EP1126719A2 - Apparatus and method for selecting a channel among a plurality of channels in a packetized signal - Google Patents
Apparatus and method for selecting a channel among a plurality of channels in a packetized signal Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- EP1126719A2 EP1126719A2 EP20010201068 EP01201068A EP1126719A2 EP 1126719 A2 EP1126719 A2 EP 1126719A2 EP 20010201068 EP20010201068 EP 20010201068 EP 01201068 A EP01201068 A EP 01201068A EP 1126719 A2 EP1126719 A2 EP 1126719A2
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- program
- channels
- information
- data
- program guide
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Withdrawn
Links
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 title claims description 11
- 230000004044 response Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 12
- 238000012545 processing Methods 0.000 claims description 16
- 238000000638 solvent extraction Methods 0.000 claims description 3
- 230000005540 biological transmission Effects 0.000 abstract description 19
- 238000013479 data entry Methods 0.000 abstract description 2
- 238000012937 correction Methods 0.000 description 5
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 4
- 238000004891 communication Methods 0.000 description 3
- 230000006870 function Effects 0.000 description 3
- 230000007257 malfunction Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000008520 organization Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000010363 phase shift Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000010287 polarization Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000004590 computer program Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000001276 controlling effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000013461 design Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000001514 detection method Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000012423 maintenance Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000014759 maintenance of location Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000008447 perception Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000001105 regulatory effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000000717 retained effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000011218 segmentation Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000005236 sound signal Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000001360 synchronised effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000013519 translation Methods 0.000 description 1
Images
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
- H04N21/262—Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists
- H04N21/26266—Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists for determining content or additional data repetition rate, e.g. of a file in a DVB carousel according to its importance
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N7/00—Television systems
- H04N7/20—Adaptations for transmission via a GHz frequency band, e.g. via satellite
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
- H04N21/235—Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
- H04N21/236—Assembling of a multiplex stream, e.g. transport stream, by combining a video stream with other content or additional data, e.g. inserting a URL [Uniform Resource Locator] into a video stream, multiplexing software data into a video stream; Remultiplexing of multiplex streams; Insertion of stuffing bits into the multiplex stream, e.g. to obtain a constant bit-rate; Assembling of a packetised elementary stream
- H04N21/2362—Generation or processing of Service Information [SI]
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
- H04N21/238—Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. adapting the transmission rate of a video stream to network bandwidth; Processing of multiplex streams
- H04N21/2381—Adapting the multiplex stream to a specific network, e.g. an Internet Protocol [IP] network
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
- H04N21/238—Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. adapting the transmission rate of a video stream to network bandwidth; Processing of multiplex streams
- H04N21/2383—Channel coding or modulation of digital bit-stream, e.g. QPSK modulation
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
- H04N21/262—Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists
- H04N21/26283—Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists for associating distribution time parameters to content, e.g. to generate electronic program guide data
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
- H04N21/426—Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/434—Disassembling of a multiplex stream, e.g. demultiplexing audio and video streams, extraction of additional data from a video stream; Remultiplexing of multiplex streams; Extraction or processing of SI; Disassembling of packetised elementary stream
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/434—Disassembling of a multiplex stream, e.g. demultiplexing audio and video streams, extraction of additional data from a video stream; Remultiplexing of multiplex streams; Extraction or processing of SI; Disassembling of packetised elementary stream
- H04N21/4345—Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/435—Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/436—Interfacing a local distribution network, e.g. communicating with another STB or one or more peripheral devices inside the home
- H04N21/4363—Adapting the video stream to a specific local network, e.g. a Bluetooth® network
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/438—Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. retrieving encoded video stream packets from an IP network
- H04N21/4381—Recovering the multiplex stream from a specific network, e.g. recovering MPEG packets from ATM cells
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/438—Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. retrieving encoded video stream packets from an IP network
- H04N21/4382—Demodulation or channel decoding, e.g. QPSK demodulation
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/438—Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. retrieving encoded video stream packets from an IP network
- H04N21/4383—Accessing a communication channel
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/442—Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk
- H04N21/44213—Monitoring of end-user related data
- H04N21/44222—Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
- H04N21/4508—Management of client data or end-user data
- H04N21/4532—Management of client data or end-user data involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
- H04N21/458—Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/47—End-user applications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/47—End-user applications
- H04N21/475—End-user interface for inputting end-user data, e.g. personal identification number [PIN], preference data
- H04N21/4755—End-user interface for inputting end-user data, e.g. personal identification number [PIN], preference data for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/47—End-user applications
- H04N21/482—End-user interface for program selection
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client
- H04N21/61—Network physical structure; Signal processing
- H04N21/6106—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network
- H04N21/6143—Network physical structure; Signal processing specially adapted to the downstream path of the transmission network involving transmission via a satellite
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/60—Network structure or processes for video distribution between server and client or between remote clients; Control signalling between clients, server and network components; Transmission of management data between server and client, e.g. sending from server to client commands for recording incoming content stream; Communication details between server and client
- H04N21/65—Transmission of management data between client and server
- H04N21/654—Transmission by server directed to the client
- H04N21/6547—Transmission by server directed to the client comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
- H04N21/83—Generation or processing of protective or descriptive data associated with content; Content structuring
- H04N21/835—Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates
- H04N21/8352—Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
- H04N21/83—Generation or processing of protective or descriptive data associated with content; Content structuring
- H04N21/84—Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
- H04N21/85—Assembly of content; Generation of multimedia applications
- H04N21/858—Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N7/00—Television systems
- H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
- H04N7/162—Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing
- H04N7/163—Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing by receiver means only
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N7/00—Television systems
- H04N7/24—Systems for the transmission of television signals using pulse code modulation
- H04N7/52—Systems for transmission of a pulse code modulated video signal with one or more other pulse code modulated signals, e.g. an audio signal or a synchronizing signal
Definitions
- This invention is related to the field of digital communications systems, and is described with reference to a digital satellite television system, but also may be applicable to such systems as a digital cable system, digital terrestrial broadcast system, or a digital communication system which utilizes telephone lines.
- the invention also concerns screen displays for controlling such a system.
- the satellite receives a signal representing audio, video, or data information from an earth-based transmitter.
- the satellite amplifies and rebroadcasts this signal to a plurality of receivers, located at the residences of consumers, via transponders operating at specified frequencies and having given bandwidths.
- Such a system includes an uplink transmitting portion (earth to satellite), an earth-orbiting satellite receiving and transmitting unit, and a downlink portion (satellite to earth) including a receiver located at the user's residence.
- the subject matter of the present invention is especially concerned with a downlink receiving unit designed for relatively easy use by the user.
- the subject system is designed to employ two satellites within a few degrees of each other in geosynchronous earth-orbit stationed at an altitude of 22,300 miles, approximately over the state of Texas.
- receivers located anywhere in the contiguous 48 states of the United States can receive signals from both satellites on the same receiving antenna dish without having to reposition the antenna dish.
- Each satellite transmits its signals with a respective polarization. Selecting a satellite for reception of its signals is accomplished at the receiving antenna by selecting those signals with the appropriate polarization.
- Each satellite includes sixteen transponders for transmitting signals to the receiving antenna dish over a range of frequencies.
- Each transponder is time-multiplexed to convey a plurality of television channels (e.g., six to eight channels), substantially simultaneously.
- the satellite signals are transmitted in compressed and packetized form, and comprise television and ancillary data signals. Because the system is capable of carrying as many as two hundred fifty-six channels, some television program selection method and apparatus, which is easy to understand and operate, should be provided for the user.
- the channel number of a given television station corresponds to a fixed band of frequencies. In other words, channel 6 in the United States is regulated to occupy the range from 82-88 MHz.
- Most non-technical consumers have no understanding of the frequency allocations of the television broadcast bands. Instead, they tune a desired channel by entering its channel number into their receiver. Their receiver is programmed with the proper information to perform the required tuning to the desired channel by generating the appropriate bandswitching and tuning commands, in response to the entering of the channel number by the user. It is possible for manufacturers to build a fixed channel number-to-frequency translation arrangement into each television receiver, only because the relationship between channel number and frequency band must conform to a broadcast standard.
- This fixed-frequency standard is acceptable to the broadcasters because their transmitting equipment is readily accessible for maintenance purposes due to its location on the ground. If the transmitter malfunctions, it can be repaired and the station can be back "on-the-air" at its designated frequency band in a relatively short time. In contrast, a fixed-frequency arrangement for a satellite is undesirable because of the practical inaccessibility of an orbiting satellite. In the event that a transponder malfunctions, that transponder is thereafter inoperative, essentially forever, and receivers programmed to tune that transponder to receive a desired television program would not receive a usable signal. In such an event, the receiver will have lost the desired television channels.
- a satellite receiver may be programmed to perform a function similar to the common autoprogramming function, in which a television receiver searches for all active channels and records detection of each as it is found. If such a system is used after a transponder failure, the failed transponder will be noted and a new active transponder will be found (assuming that the programming has been moved to a new transponder by ground-based control personnel). The user's receiver would then have to perform an internal remapping to associate the desired channel with the new transponder. However, in the event that a power supply module failed in the satellite, several transponders which may receive power from that module may cease transmitting at once.
- the autoprogramming solution given above will not work because several new transponders will be found at the same time as several old transponders are noted as missing. In such a case, the receiver will have no way of allocating the received signals to their proper channels. Moreover, as noted above, since each transponder conveys six to eight channels, the channels assigned to the failed transponder may be distributed among several still-functioning transponders. In that case the receiving antenna will have access to all of the television channels, but the receiver will, quite literally, not know where to find those channels which have been moved.
- a television system for receiving a plurality of digitally-encoded television programs includes an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) having circuitry for selecting a particular digital data transmission channel from a plurality of digital data transmission channels containing a desired digitally-encoded television program in response to a control signal, at least one of the data transmission channels also including television program schedule data.
- the system also includes user-operable data entry circuitry for entering data, and a controller for generating the above-noted control signal in response to user-entered data.
- the controller selects a virtual channel from a plurality of virtual channels in response to user-entered data, each virtual channel being subject to reassignment to a different one of said a plurality of digital data transmission channels, the television program schedule data defining the relationship of each of the television programs to respective ones of the plurality of digital data transmission channels.
- Each digital transmission channel provides a "packetized digital data multiplex" (PDDM) of program guides, audio, video and data.
- PDDM packetized digital data multiplex
- the subject system provides a comprehensive and logical organization for transmission of multiple television programs in digital form useful in both satellite and terrestrial broadcasting.
- FIGURES 1 and 2 are illustrations of a typical transmitted data stream from a transponder in accordance with the invention.
- FIGURE 3 is an illustration of a program guide screen display in accordance with the invention.
- FIGURE 4 is an illustration of segmentation of the master program guide and special program guides in accordance with the invention.
- FIGURES 5a and 5b are illustrations of program data structures in accordance with the invention.
- FIGURE 6 is a block diagram of a satellite transmitting/receiving system according to the invention.
- FIGURE 7 is a block diagram of the IRD receiver unit.
- FIGURE 8 is a block diagram of a portion of the IRD receiver unit of FIGURES 6 and 7, in detail.
- the television program selection information comprises a set of data known as a Master Program Guide (MPG), which relates television program titles, their start and end times, a virtual channel number to be displayed to the user, and information allocating virtual channels to transponder frequencies and to a position in the time-multiplexed data stream transmitted by a particular transponder.
- MPG Master Program Guide
- virtual channels allow allocation of virtual channel numbers by category, such as, sports, movies, news. This realization, in turn, allows for active and inactive virtual channels. That is, ten virtual channels assigned to sporting events on a Saturday afternoon, may be inactivated after the games and may provide enough bandwidth to support, for example, twenty movie channels. Thus, the user has the perception that he has many more channels than, in fact, could be supported simultaneously, by the available bandwidth. Another words, the concept of virtual channels allows time-multiplexing of the system bandwidth.
- the available bandwidth of a given transponder can be reallocated, as needed, from one virtual channel to another.
- the system is totally flexible in that any program may be assigned, or reassigned at any master program guide transmission time, to any transponder or data time slot, in a fashion which is completely transparent to the user, who sees only the unchanged program title and virtual channel.
- any program may be assigned, or reassigned at any master program guide transmission time, to any transponder or data time slot, in a fashion which is completely transparent to the user, who sees only the unchanged program title and virtual channel.
- a master program guide is preferably transmitted on all transponders with the television program video and audio data, and is repeated periodically, for example, every 2 seconds.
- the master program guide is not encrypted, and can be used by the receiver immediately after being received and stored.
- the master program guide once received, is maintained in a memory unit in the receiver, and updated periodically, for example every 30 minutes. Retention of the master program guide allows instantaneous television program selection because the necessary selection data are always available. If the master program guide were to be discarded after using it to select a television program, then a delay of at least two seconds would be incurred while a new program guide was acquired, before any further television program selections could be performed.
- Each program may include a number of services.
- a service is defined herein as a program component, such as a video signal, an audio signal, a closed caption signal, or other data, including executable computer programs, for an appropriate receiver.
- Each service of each program is identified by a unique S ervice C omponent Id entifier (SCID).
- SCID S ervice C omponent Id entifier
- FIGURE 1 A representation of a typical data stream from one of the transponders is shown in FIGURE 1, and a typical packet from that data stream is shown in FIGURE 2.
- a string of boxes represents signal packets which are components of a plurality of different television programs transmitted by a given transponder. Packets with letters having like subscripts represent components of a single television program. For example, packet identified as V 1 , A 1 and D 1 , represent video, audio, and data for program 1.
- the respective components of a particular program are shown grouped together. However, it is not necessary to group components of a particular program together, as indicated by the packet sequence in the middle of the string. Moreover, there is no requirement to place the packets of a string in any particular order.
- the string of packets shown in the lower portion of FIGURE 1 represents three time multiplexed programs, programs 1, 2, and 3, plus packets representing a program guide (packets D4). It is important to note that the data of the program guide interrelates program components and virtual channels by virtue of the SCID.
- the respective packets are arranged to include a prefix and a payload as shown in FIGURE 2.
- the prefix of this example includes two 8-bit bytes comprising five fields, four of which are 1-byte fields (P,BB,CF,CS), and one 12-bit field (SCID).
- the Payload portion contains the actual information to be received and processed.
- an exemplary prefix includes a 1-bit priority field (P); a 1-bit boundary field (BB), which indicates boundaries between significant signal changes; a 1-bit field (CF), which indicates whether or not the payload is scrambled; a 1-bit field (CS), which indicates which one of two descrambling keys is to be used to descramble a scrambled payload; and a 12-bit SCID.
- P 1-bit priority field
- BB 1-bit boundary field
- CF 1-bit field
- CS 1-bit field
- SCID 12-bit SCID
- a master program guide comprises packetized data formatted as defined above, and is assigned a specific SCID, such as, 0000 0000 0001.
- a master program guide comprises four sequential blocks of data, designated, SEGM, APGD, CSSM1 ... CSSMnseg, and PISM1 ... PISMnseg, to be described below.
- a master program guide typically includes television schedules for the next two hours, but may include schedules for four, six, or eight hours depending on the size of the memory allocated to store it in the receiver.
- SPG special program guides
- additional data such as, for example, television program schedules for the following eight hours. That is, the master guide holds all information necessary for selecting current television programs, and the special guides contain information about future television programs. Special guides are downloaded from the satellite as needed and are not retained in memory due to their large size.
- both the master program guide and special program guides are partitioned into a plurality of segments or portions (from 0 to 15) with an index "nseg" indicating the current number of segments comprising the special guide.
- Each segment carries program information for one or more virtual channels which range from 100 to 999.
- FIGURE 4 shows only an exemplary allocation of virtual channels to segments, and other groupings can be made at the discretion of the operators at the satellite uplink center.
- Each special guide segment includes two sequential blocks of data, CSSM1 ... CSSMnseg, and PISM1 ... PISMnseg, also to be described below.
- FIGURES 5a and 5b show program data structures of the subject satellite transmission system.
- the Seg ment M ap (SEGM) block of the master program guide contains information about the partitioning of the channel space into segments, and the number of segments.
- the A dditional P rogram G uide D ata (APGD) block contains a program guide map which indicates which special program guide segments are active, and their location (i.e., the particular transponder carrying the segment), as well as the SCIDs of the respective segments.
- the APGD block contains program information relating to ratings and theme of a particular television program.
- the APGD also includes a program guide map associating special guide segments with respective names, numbers, and types.
- the master guide and every special guide contain a C hannel to S ervice S egment M ap (CSSM) block and a P rogram I nformation S egment M ap (PISM) block.
- the CSSM describes virtual channels (e.g., by listing information as to channel name, call letters, channel number, and type) which are in the corresponding segment.
- the PISM block contains linked lists of program information such as, title, start time, duration, rating, and category, that are on each virtual channel described in the corresponding Channel to Service Segment Map (CSSM).
- FIGURE 3 a user selects a television program for viewing, by moving a cursor (via operation of remote control up, down, right, and left, direction control keys, not shown) to a block of the program guide screen display which contains the name of the desired program.
- a SELECT key of the remote control is pressed, the current x and y position of the cursor is evaluated to derive virtual channel and program time information.
- the master program guide and special program guides are divided into segments (which may be as few as one segment or as many as 16).
- the lowest virtual channel (100) is always allocated as the first channel of seg (0).
- Each segment contains channel and program information for a defined number of virtual channels.
- the virtual channel number is used to point into the proper segment of the particular program guide (either master program guide, or a special program guide) to retrieve the specific channel information and program information.
- the Channel Information (CI) Records in the CSSM are a fixed length of seventeen bytes and contain such items as, the number of SCIDs in use (typically 2, audio and video), the channel transponder (Chan Xpndr) the channel number and short name (i.e., typically four characters), and a pointer into the linked program information.
- the channel transponder Chan Xpndr
- Program information includes the start day and time of the program, the number of thirty minute slots it occupies, the theme category (i.e., drama, sports, comedy), and parental rating.
- the data packets containing the audio and video information for that program can be selected from the data stream received from the transponder by examining the data packets for the proper SCID (Service Component Identifier) 12 bit code. If the SCID of the currently received data packet matches the SCID of the desired television program as listed in the program guide, then the data packet is routed to the proper data processing sections of the receiver. If the SCID of a particular packet does not match the SCID of the desired television program as listed in the program guide, then that data packet is discarded.
- SCID Service Component Identifier
- a transmitter 601 processes a data signal from a source 614 (e.g., a television signal source) and transmits it to a satellite 613 which receives and rebroadcasts the signal to a receiver 612.
- Transmitter 601 includes an encoder 602, a modulator/forward error corrector (FEC) 603, and an uplink unit 604.
- Encoder 602 compresses and encodes signals from source 614 according to a predetermined standard such as MPEG.
- MPEG is an international standard developed by the Moving Picture Expert Group of the International Standards Organization for coded representation of moving pictures and associated audio stored on digital storage medium.
- An encoded signal from unit 602 is supplied to modulator/Forward Error Corrector (FEC) 603, which encodes the signal with error correction data, and Quaternary Phase Shift Key (QPSK) modulates the encoded signal onto a carrier.
- FEC Forward Error Corrector
- QPSK Quaternary Phase Shift Key
- Both convolutional and Reed-Solomon (RS) block coding are performed in block 603.
- Uplink unit 604 transmits the compressed and encoded signal to satellite 613, which broadcasts the signal to a selected geographic reception area.
- satellite 613 operates in two modes, which trade off channel capacity for transmission power, or transmission power for channel capacity. In the first mode, satellite 613 illustratively transmits sixteen channels at 120 watts each. In the second mode, satellite 613 transmits eight channels at 240 watts each.
- Receiver 612 includes a demodulator/Forward Error Correction (FEC) decoder 607 to demodulate the signal and to decode the error correction data, a microprocessor 606, which operates interactively with demodulator/FEC unit 607, and a transport unit 608 to transport the signal to an appropriate decoder within unit 609 depending on the content of the signal, i.e., audio or video information.
- Transport unit 608 receives corrected data packets from unit 607 and checks the header of each packet to determine its routing. Decoders in unit 609 decode the signal and remove added transport data, if used.
- An NTSC Encoder 610 encodes the decoded signal to a format suitable for use by signal processing circuits in a standard NTSC consumer television receiver 611.
- FIGURE 7 is a block diagram showing the components of the IRD receiver system including the outdoor antenna dish unit 7-5.
- the IRD includes a block 707 including a tuner 734 and a demodulator unit 735 for tuning various television signals.
- the IRD is under control of a microcontroller 706, which also controls the interfaces between the IRD and a telephone network via a telephone modem 734, between the IRD and a user via an IR link 725 and between the IRD and a television receiver via an MPEG decoder 723, a video encoder 721, and an RF modulator 722, and finally, between the IRD unit and a user via a smart card interface and transport IC 708.
- demodulator/FEC unit 807 acquires, demodulates, and decodes the data signal which is received from antenna dish 805.
- This unit includes a tuner 834, a Quaternary Phase Shift Key (QPSK) demodulator 835, a Viterbi convolutional decoder 836, a de-interleaver 837, and a Reed-Solomon (RS) decoder 838, all of conventional design, arranged as shown.
- QPSK Quaternary Phase Shift Key
- RS Reed-Solomon
- Tuner 834 receives an input signal from antenna dish 805. Based upon a user's channel selection, a control unit 806 (i.e., a microprocessor) sends a frequency signal to tuner 834. This signal cause tuner 834 to tune to the appropriate channel and to downconvert the received signal in frequency in response to the tuning frequency signal sent to tuner 834 from microprocessor 806. An output signal from tuner 34 is provided to QPSK demodulator 835.
- a control unit 806 i.e., a microprocessor
- QPSK demodulator 835 locks onto (synchronizes with) the tuned channel, demodulates the modulated data signal , and generates a signal indicative of the quality of the demodulated signal.
- Demodulator 835 demodulates the modulated input data signal regardless of the error correction code rate of the received data signal.
- Phase-locked loop circuitry in demodulator 835 synchronizes the operation of demodulator 835 with the input signal using well-known techniques.
- Demodulator 835 generates a Demodulator Lock output control signal that indicates whether or not demodulator 835 is synchronized with the input signal, and supplies this signal to a storage register in microprocessor 806. an output demodulated data signal from unit 835 is provided to Viterbi decoder 836.
- Demodulator 835 also generates an output Signal Quality signal, which is indicative of the quality of the signal received from the satellite transmission, and is related to the signal-to-noise ratio of the received signal. Various sources of noise, as well as rain fade, may impair the quality of a received signal.
- a QPSK demodulator suitable for use as unit 835 is commercially available from Hughes Network Systems of Germantown, Maryland (integrated circuit type No. 1016212), and from Comstream Corp.,. San Diego California (No. CD2000).
- Decoder 836 uses a Viterbi algorithm to decode and to correct bit errors in the demodulated signal from unit 835. Decoder 836 includes internal networks, as known, to synchronize its operation to the incoming demodulated signal in order to effectively decode the demodulated signal.
- decoder 836 After decoder 836 decodes and error corrects the demodulated data signal, the decoded data signal is supplied to a de-interleaver 837.
- De-interleaver 837 restores the ordering of the data signal to its original sequence, and forms Reed-Solomon blocks (RS blocks), in accordance with known techniques. For this purpose de-interleaver 837 relies upon an 8-bit sync word inserted by the encoder at the beginning of each RS block, thereby providing RS block synchronization.
- the de-interleaved signal is supplied to a Reed-Solomon (RS) decoder 838.
- RS Reed-Solomon
- RS decoder 838 decodes the RS blocks and corrects byte errors within a block.
- a decoded signal from Viterbi decoder 836 is provided to RS decoder 838 via de-interleaver 837. If decoder 36 uses the proper error correction decode rate to decode the data signal, de-interleaver 837 and Reed-Solomon decoder 838 will operate normally.
- a digital multi-channel transmission system which allocates television programs to transponders and to time-multiplexed slots in the data stream of a given transponder in a way which is completely transparent to the user, who simply tunes a desired television program by selecting a virtual channel. It has been further explained above, that the key to the smooth operation of this system is the transmission of the master and special channel guides which relate transponder channels and program data positions in the transponder data stream to virtual channel numbers.
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Multimedia (AREA)
- Signal Processing (AREA)
- Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
- Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Social Psychology (AREA)
- General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
- Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
- Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Astronomy & Astrophysics (AREA)
- Two-Way Televisions, Distribution Of Moving Picture Or The Like (AREA)
- Television Systems (AREA)
- Circuits Of Receivers In General (AREA)
- Details Of Television Systems (AREA)
- Radio Relay Systems (AREA)
- Data Exchanges In Wide-Area Networks (AREA)
Abstract
Description
- This invention is related to the field of digital communications systems, and is described with reference to a digital satellite television system, but also may be applicable to such systems as a digital cable system, digital terrestrial broadcast system, or a digital communication system which utilizes telephone lines. The invention also concerns screen displays for controlling such a system.
- In a satellite television communication system, the satellite receives a signal representing audio, video, or data information from an earth-based transmitter. The satellite amplifies and rebroadcasts this signal to a plurality of receivers, located at the residences of consumers, via transponders operating at specified frequencies and having given bandwidths. Such a system includes an uplink transmitting portion (earth to satellite), an earth-orbiting satellite receiving and transmitting unit, and a downlink portion (satellite to earth) including a receiver located at the user's residence. The subject matter of the present invention is especially concerned with a downlink receiving unit designed for relatively easy use by the user.
- The subject system is designed to employ two satellites within a few degrees of each other in geosynchronous earth-orbit stationed at an altitude of 22,300 miles, approximately over the state of Texas. With this arrangement, receivers located anywhere in the contiguous 48 states of the United States can receive signals from both satellites on the same receiving antenna dish without having to reposition the antenna dish. Each satellite transmits its signals with a respective polarization. Selecting a satellite for reception of its signals is accomplished at the receiving antenna by selecting those signals with the appropriate polarization. Each satellite includes sixteen transponders for transmitting signals to the receiving antenna dish over a range of frequencies. Each transponder is time-multiplexed to convey a plurality of television channels (e.g., six to eight channels), substantially simultaneously. The satellite signals are transmitted in compressed and packetized form, and comprise television and ancillary data signals. Because the system is capable of carrying as many as two hundred fifty-six channels, some television program selection method and apparatus, which is easy to understand and operate, should be provided for the user.
- If we look to conventional analog VHF and UHF broadcast television as a guide, we find that the solution provided therein is of little help, for the following reasons. The channel number of a given television station corresponds to a fixed band of frequencies. In other words,
channel 6 in the United States is regulated to occupy the range from 82-88 MHz. Most non-technical consumers have no understanding of the frequency allocations of the television broadcast bands. Instead, they tune a desired channel by entering its channel number into their receiver. Their receiver is programmed with the proper information to perform the required tuning to the desired channel by generating the appropriate bandswitching and tuning commands, in response to the entering of the channel number by the user. It is possible for manufacturers to build a fixed channel number-to-frequency translation arrangement into each television receiver, only because the relationship between channel number and frequency band must conform to a broadcast standard. - This fixed-frequency standard is acceptable to the broadcasters because their transmitting equipment is readily accessible for maintenance purposes due to its location on the ground. If the transmitter malfunctions, it can be repaired and the station can be back "on-the-air" at its designated frequency band in a relatively short time. In contrast, a fixed-frequency arrangement for a satellite is undesirable because of the practical inaccessibility of an orbiting satellite. In the event that a transponder malfunctions, that transponder is thereafter inoperative, essentially forever, and receivers programmed to tune that transponder to receive a desired television program would not receive a usable signal. In such an event, the receiver will have lost the desired television channels.
- A satellite receiver may be programmed to perform a function similar to the common autoprogramming function, in which a television receiver searches for all active channels and records detection of each as it is found. If such a system is used after a transponder failure, the failed transponder will be noted and a new active transponder will be found (assuming that the programming has been moved to a new transponder by ground-based control personnel). The user's receiver would then have to perform an internal remapping to associate the desired channel with the new transponder. However, in the event that a power supply module failed in the satellite, several transponders which may receive power from that module may cease transmitting at once. In such an event, the autoprogramming solution given above will not work because several new transponders will be found at the same time as several old transponders are noted as missing. In such a case, the receiver will have no way of allocating the received signals to their proper channels. Moreover, as noted above, since each transponder conveys six to eight channels, the channels assigned to the failed transponder may be distributed among several still-functioning transponders. In that case the receiving antenna will have access to all of the television channels, but the receiver will, quite literally, not know where to find those channels which have been moved.
- A television system for receiving a plurality of digitally-encoded television programs includes an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) having circuitry for selecting a particular digital data transmission channel from a plurality of digital data transmission channels containing a desired digitally-encoded television program in response to a control signal, at least one of the data transmission channels also including television program schedule data. The system also includes user-operable data entry circuitry for entering data, and a controller for generating the above-noted control signal in response to user-entered data. The controller selects a virtual channel from a plurality of virtual channels in response to user-entered data, each virtual channel being subject to reassignment to a different one of said a plurality of digital data transmission channels, the television program schedule data defining the relationship of each of the television programs to respective ones of the plurality of digital data transmission channels. Each digital transmission channel provides a "packetized digital data multiplex" (PDDM) of program guides, audio, video and data. As such, the subject system provides a comprehensive and logical organization for transmission of multiple television programs in digital form useful in both satellite and terrestrial broadcasting.
- FIGURES 1 and 2 are illustrations of a typical transmitted data stream from a transponder in accordance with the invention.
- FIGURE 3 is an illustration of a program guide screen display in accordance with the invention.
- FIGURE 4 is an illustration of segmentation of the master program guide and special program guides in accordance with the invention.
- FIGURES 5a and 5b are illustrations of program data structures in accordance with the invention.
- FIGURE 6 is a block diagram of a satellite transmitting/receiving system according to the invention.
- FIGURE 7 is a block diagram of the IRD receiver unit.
- FIGURE 8 is a block diagram of a portion of the IRD receiver unit of FIGURES 6 and 7, in detail.
- In the subject system, the information necessary to select a given television program is not fixedly-programmed into each receiver but is rather is down-loaded from the satellite continually on each transponder. The television program selection information comprises a set of data known as a Master Program Guide (MPG), which relates television program titles, their start and end times, a virtual channel number to be displayed to the user, and information allocating virtual channels to transponder frequencies and to a position in the time-multiplexed data stream transmitted by a particular transponder. In a system according to the subject invention, it is not possible to tune any channel until the first master program guide is received from the satellite, because the receiver literally does not know where any channel is located, in terms of frequency and position (i.e. data time slot) within the data stream of any transponder. The concept of virtual channels allows allocation of virtual channel numbers by category, such as, sports, movies, news. This realization, in turn, allows for active and inactive virtual channels. That is, ten virtual channels assigned to sporting events on a Saturday afternoon, may be inactivated after the games and may provide enough bandwidth to support, for example, twenty movie channels. Thus, the user has the perception that he has many more channels than, in fact, could be supported simultaneously, by the available bandwidth. Another words, the concept of virtual channels allows time-multiplexing of the system bandwidth. Moreover, it allows a television program requiring greater bandwidth (such as a sporting event) to "borrow" bits from a second television program on the same transponder which does not require as great a bandwidth (such as a "talk show"). Thus, the available bandwidth of a given transponder can be reallocated, as needed, from one virtual channel to another.
- Advantageously, the system is totally flexible in that any program may be assigned, or reassigned at any master program guide transmission time, to any transponder or data time slot, in a fashion which is completely transparent to the user, who sees only the unchanged program title and virtual channel. Thus, the problem of multiple failed transponders can be solved without the user even being aware that it has occurred, by a quickly performed reallocation of the affected television programs to functioning transponders with unused data time slots, and by transmitting a new program guide to the users.
- A master program guide is preferably transmitted on all transponders with the television program video and audio data, and is repeated periodically, for example, every 2 seconds. The master program guide is not encrypted, and can be used by the receiver immediately after being received and stored. The master program guide, once received, is maintained in a memory unit in the receiver, and updated periodically, for example every 30 minutes. Retention of the master program guide allows instantaneous television program selection because the necessary selection data are always available. If the master program guide were to be discarded after using it to select a television program, then a delay of at least two seconds would be incurred while a new program guide was acquired, before any further television program selections could be performed.
- As noted above, the system is capable of transmitting hundreds of programs. Each program may include a number of services. A service is defined herein as a program component, such as a video signal, an audio signal, a closed caption signal, or other data, including executable computer programs, for an appropriate receiver. Each service of each program is identified by a unique Service Component Identifier (SCID). The information for the respective services is transmitted in packets of predetermined amounts of data(e.g., 130 bytes) and each packet includes an SCID corresponding to the service.
- A representation of a typical data stream from one of the transponders is shown in FIGURE 1, and a typical packet from that data stream is shown in FIGURE 2. In FIGURE 1, a string of boxes represents signal packets which are components of a plurality of different television programs transmitted by a given transponder. Packets with letters having like subscripts represent components of a single television program. For example, packet identified as V1, A1 and D1, represent video, audio, and data for
program 1. In the upper line of the string of packets, the respective components of a particular program are shown grouped together. However, it is not necessary to group components of a particular program together, as indicated by the packet sequence in the middle of the string. Moreover, there is no requirement to place the packets of a string in any particular order. - The string of packets shown in the lower portion of FIGURE 1, represents three time multiplexed programs,
programs - A master program guide comprises packetized data formatted as defined above, and is assigned a specific SCID, such as, 0000 0000 0001. A master program guide comprises four sequential blocks of data, designated, SEGM, APGD, CSSM1 ... CSSMnseg, and PISM1 ... PISMnseg, to be described below.
- A master program guide typically includes television schedules for the next two hours, but may include schedules for four, six, or eight hours depending on the size of the memory allocated to store it in the receiver. In addition to the master program guide, there is also provided one or more special program guides (SPG), containing additional data, such as, for example, television program schedules for the following eight hours. That is, the master guide holds all information necessary for selecting current television programs, and the special guides contain information about future television programs. Special guides are downloaded from the satellite as needed and are not retained in memory due to their large size. As shown in FIGURE 4, both the master program guide and special program guides are partitioned into a plurality of segments or portions (from 0 to 15) with an index "nseg" indicating the current number of segments comprising the special guide. Each segment carries program information for one or more virtual channels which range from 100 to 999. FIGURE 4 shows only an exemplary allocation of virtual channels to segments, and other groupings can be made at the discretion of the operators at the satellite uplink center. Each special guide segment includes two sequential blocks of data, CSSM1 ... CSSMnseg, and PISM1 ... PISMnseg, also to be described below.
- FIGURES 5a and 5b show program data structures of the subject satellite transmission system. Note that the Segment Map (SEGM) block of the master program guide contains information about the partitioning of the channel space into segments, and the number of segments. The Additional Program Guide Data (APGD) block contains a program guide map which indicates which special program guide segments are active, and their location (i.e., the particular transponder carrying the segment), as well as the SCIDs of the respective segments. The APGD block contains program information relating to ratings and theme of a particular television program. The APGD also includes a program guide map associating special guide segments with respective names, numbers, and types.
- The master guide and every special guide contain a Channel to Service Segment Map (CSSM) block and a Program Information Segment Map (PISM) block. The CSSM describes virtual channels (e.g., by listing information as to channel name, call letters, channel number, and type) which are in the corresponding segment. The PISM block contains linked lists of program information such as, title, start time, duration, rating, and category, that are on each virtual channel described in the corresponding Channel to Service Segment Map (CSSM).
- Relevant portions of the data structures shown in FIGURES 3, 4, 5a and 5b will be referred to in the following description of the program selection process. That is, many portions of the data structures shown in FIGURES 5a and 5b concern functions other than virtual channel selection, such as purchase information, and will not be discussed. Referring to FIGURE 3, a user selects a television program for viewing, by moving a cursor (via operation of remote control up, down, right, and left, direction control keys, not shown) to a block of the program guide screen display which contains the name of the desired program. When a SELECT key of the remote control is pressed, the current x and y position of the cursor is evaluated to derive virtual channel and program time information.
- As shown in FIGURE 4, and as noted above, the master program guide and special program guides are divided into segments (which may be as few as one segment or as many as 16). The lowest virtual channel (100) is always allocated as the first channel of seg (0). Each segment contains channel and program information for a defined number of virtual channels. Upon deriving the virtual channel number from the X and Y cursor position information, the virtual channel number is used to point into the proper segment of the particular program guide (either master program guide, or a special program guide) to retrieve the specific channel information and program information. Specifically, the Channel Information (CI) Records in the CSSM (Channel to Service Segment Map) are a fixed length of seventeen bytes and contain such items as, the number of SCIDs in use (typically 2, audio and video), the channel transponder (Chan Xpndr) the channel number and short name (i.e., typically four characters), and a pointer into the linked program information. In order to access any specific Channel Information (CI) it is only required to repeatedly add seventeen to a base value. Program information includes the start day and time of the program, the number of thirty minute slots it occupies, the theme category (i.e., drama, sports, comedy), and parental rating.
- Once the channel transponder carrying a desired television program is tuned, the data packets containing the audio and video information for that program can be selected from the data stream received from the transponder by examining the data packets for the proper SCID (Service Component Identifier) 12 bit code. If the SCID of the currently received data packet matches the SCID of the desired television program as listed in the program guide, then the data packet is routed to the proper data processing sections of the receiver. If the SCID of a particular packet does not match the SCID of the desired television program as listed in the program guide, then that data packet is discarded.
- A brief description of system hardware, suitable for implementing the above-described invention, now follows. In FIGURE 6, a
transmitter 601 processes a data signal from a source 614 (e.g., a television signal source) and transmits it to asatellite 613 which receives and rebroadcasts the signal to areceiver 612.Transmitter 601 includes an encoder 602, a modulator/forward error corrector (FEC) 603, and anuplink unit 604. Encoder 602 compresses and encodes signals from source 614 according to a predetermined standard such as MPEG. MPEG is an international standard developed by the Moving Picture Expert Group of the International Standards Organization for coded representation of moving pictures and associated audio stored on digital storage medium. An encoded signal from unit 602 is supplied to modulator/Forward Error Corrector (FEC) 603, which encodes the signal with error correction data, and Quaternary Phase Shift Key (QPSK) modulates the encoded signal onto a carrier. Both convolutional and Reed-Solomon (RS) block coding are performed inblock 603. -
Uplink unit 604 transmits the compressed and encoded signal tosatellite 613, which broadcasts the signal to a selected geographic reception area. In this embodiment,satellite 613 operates in two modes, which trade off channel capacity for transmission power, or transmission power for channel capacity. In the first mode,satellite 613 illustratively transmits sixteen channels at 120 watts each. In the second mode,satellite 613 transmits eight channels at 240 watts each. - The signal from
satellite 613 is received by anantenna dish 605 coupled to an input of a so-called set-top receiver 612 (i.e., an interface device situated atop a television receiver).Receiver 612 includes a demodulator/Forward Error Correction (FEC)decoder 607 to demodulate the signal and to decode the error correction data, amicroprocessor 606, which operates interactively with demodulator/FEC unit 607, and atransport unit 608 to transport the signal to an appropriate decoder withinunit 609 depending on the content of the signal, i.e., audio or video information.Transport unit 608 receives corrected data packets fromunit 607 and checks the header of each packet to determine its routing. Decoders inunit 609 decode the signal and remove added transport data, if used. AnNTSC Encoder 610 encodes the decoded signal to a format suitable for use by signal processing circuits in a standard NTSCconsumer television receiver 611. - FIGURE 7 is a block diagram showing the components of the IRD receiver system including the outdoor antenna dish unit 7-5. The IRD includes a
block 707 including atuner 734 and ademodulator unit 735 for tuning various television signals. The IRD is under control of amicrocontroller 706, which also controls the interfaces between the IRD and a telephone network via atelephone modem 734, between the IRD and a user via anIR link 725 and between the IRD and a television receiver via anMPEG decoder 723, avideo encoder 721, and anRF modulator 722, and finally, between the IRD unit and a user via a smart card interface andtransport IC 708. - Referring now to FIGURE 8, demodulator/
FEC unit 807 acquires, demodulates, and decodes the data signal which is received fromantenna dish 805. This unit includes atuner 834, a Quaternary Phase Shift Key (QPSK)demodulator 835, aViterbi convolutional decoder 836, a de-interleaver 837, and a Reed-Solomon (RS)decoder 838, all of conventional design, arranged as shown. -
Tuner 834 receives an input signal fromantenna dish 805. Based upon a user's channel selection, a control unit 806 (i.e., a microprocessor) sends a frequency signal totuner 834. Thissignal cause tuner 834 to tune to the appropriate channel and to downconvert the received signal in frequency in response to the tuning frequency signal sent totuner 834 frommicroprocessor 806. An output signal from tuner 34 is provided toQPSK demodulator 835. - QPSK demodulator 835 locks onto (synchronizes with) the tuned channel, demodulates the modulated data signal , and generates a signal indicative of the quality of the demodulated signal.
Demodulator 835 demodulates the modulated input data signal regardless of the error correction code rate of the received data signal. Phase-locked loop circuitry indemodulator 835 synchronizes the operation ofdemodulator 835 with the input signal using well-known techniques.Demodulator 835 generates a Demodulator Lock output control signal that indicates whether or not demodulator 835 is synchronized with the input signal, and supplies this signal to a storage register inmicroprocessor 806. an output demodulated data signal fromunit 835 is provided toViterbi decoder 836.Demodulator 835 also generates an output Signal Quality signal, which is indicative of the quality of the signal received from the satellite transmission, and is related to the signal-to-noise ratio of the received signal. Various sources of noise, as well as rain fade, may impair the quality of a received signal. A QPSK demodulator suitable for use asunit 835 is commercially available from Hughes Network Systems of Germantown, Maryland (integrated circuit type No. 1016212), and from Comstream Corp.,. San Diego California (No. CD2000). -
Decoder 836 uses a Viterbi algorithm to decode and to correct bit errors in the demodulated signal fromunit 835.Decoder 836 includes internal networks, as known, to synchronize its operation to the incoming demodulated signal in order to effectively decode the demodulated signal. - After
decoder 836 decodes and error corrects the demodulated data signal, the decoded data signal is supplied to a de-interleaver 837.De-interleaver 837 restores the ordering of the data signal to its original sequence, and forms Reed-Solomon blocks (RS blocks), in accordance with known techniques. For thispurpose de-interleaver 837 relies upon an 8-bit sync word inserted by the encoder at the beginning of each RS block, thereby providing RS block synchronization. The de-interleaved signal is supplied to a Reed-Solomon (RS)decoder 838. -
RS decoder 838 decodes the RS blocks and corrects byte errors within a block. A decoded signal fromViterbi decoder 836 is provided toRS decoder 838 viade-interleaver 837. If decoder 36 uses the proper error correction decode rate to decode the data signal, de-interleaver 837 and Reed-Solomon decoder 838 will operate normally. - Thus, a digital multi-channel transmission system has been disclosed and described which allocates television programs to transponders and to time-multiplexed slots in the data stream of a given transponder in a way which is completely transparent to the user, who simply tunes a desired television program by selecting a virtual channel. It has been further explained above, that the key to the smooth operation of this system is the transmission of the master and special channel guides which relate transponder channels and program data positions in the transponder data stream to virtual channel numbers.
Claims (11)
- A signal processing apparatus, comprising:means for receiving a packetized signal; andmeans for identifying and processing program guide information included in said packetized signal and for identifying and processing a selected program from one of a plurality of channels in response to said program guide information, said program guide information comprising a sequence of data blocks including, a segment map block that includes information about the partitioning of said plurality of channels into segments and a channel to service segment map block that includes information relating specific channels of said plurality of channels with respective channel identifier data.
- The signal processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein said sequence of data blocks further comprises a program information segment map block that includes program related information associated with each program on each of said plurality of channels.
- The signal processing apparatus of claim, 2, wherein said sequence of data blocks further comprises an additional program guide data block that includes information for identifying and processing a second program guide.
- The signal processing apparatus of claim 3, wherein said additional program guide data block includes program information relating to the theme and rating of a selected program.
- The signal processing apparatus of claim 3, wherein said second program guide includes a sequence of data blocks including a second channel to service segment map block that includes second information relating specific channels of said plurality of channels with respective channel identifier data and a second program information segment map block that includes second program related information associated with each program on each of said plurality of channels.
- The signal processing apparatus of claim 3, wherein said program guide includes information relating to programs transmitted during a first time interval and said second program guide includes information relating to programs transmitted during a second time interval, said second time interval following said first time interval.
- A method of processing a packetized signal, the method comprising the steps of.acquiring program guide information included in the packetized signal;identifying and processing a sequence of data blocks in the program guide information, the sequence of data blocks including a segment map block that includes information about the partitioning of said plurality of channels into segments and a channel to service segment map block that including information relating specific channels of said plurality of channels with respective channel identifier data; andacquiring a selected program from one of a plurality of channels in response to the information in the sequence of data blocks.
- The method according to claim 7, wherein the identifying step includes identifying and processing a program information segment map block that includes program related information associated with each program on each of said plurality of channels.
- The method according to claim 8, wherein the identifying step further includes identifying and processing an additional program guide data block that includes information for identifying and processing a second program guide.
- The method according to claim 9, further comprising the step of identifying and processing from the additional program guide data block a sequence of data blocks including a second channel to service segment map block that includes second information relating specific channels of said program information segment map block that includes second program related information associated with each program on each of said plurality of channels.
- The method according to claim 10, wherein the second acquiring step comprises acquiring a first program during a first time interval in response to the program guide and acquiring a second program during a second time interval in response to the second program guide, the second time interval following the first time interval.
Applications Claiming Priority (4)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
GB9400101A GB9400101D0 (en) | 1994-01-05 | 1994-01-05 | Consumer interface for a satellite television system |
GB9400101 | 1994-01-05 | ||
EP95907980A EP0738450B1 (en) | 1994-01-05 | 1995-01-04 | Consumer interface for a digital television system |
EP98200055A EP0838958B1 (en) | 1994-01-05 | 1995-01-04 | Consumer interface for a digital television system |
Related Parent Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP98200055A Division EP0838958B1 (en) | 1994-01-05 | 1995-01-04 | Consumer interface for a digital television system |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
EP1126719A2 true EP1126719A2 (en) | 2001-08-22 |
EP1126719A3 EP1126719A3 (en) | 2001-11-07 |
Family
ID=10748413
Family Applications (5)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP95906748A Expired - Lifetime EP0738449B1 (en) | 1994-01-05 | 1995-01-04 | A digital television system channel guide having a limited lifetime |
EP98200055A Expired - Lifetime EP0838958B1 (en) | 1994-01-05 | 1995-01-04 | Consumer interface for a digital television system |
EP01201067A Withdrawn EP1146744A3 (en) | 1994-01-05 | 1995-01-04 | Apparatus and method for acquiring a program from a packetized signal |
EP95907980A Expired - Lifetime EP0738450B1 (en) | 1994-01-05 | 1995-01-04 | Consumer interface for a digital television system |
EP20010201068 Withdrawn EP1126719A3 (en) | 1994-01-05 | 1995-01-04 | Apparatus and method for selecting a channel among a plurality of channels in a packetized signal |
Family Applications Before (4)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP95906748A Expired - Lifetime EP0738449B1 (en) | 1994-01-05 | 1995-01-04 | A digital television system channel guide having a limited lifetime |
EP98200055A Expired - Lifetime EP0838958B1 (en) | 1994-01-05 | 1995-01-04 | Consumer interface for a digital television system |
EP01201067A Withdrawn EP1146744A3 (en) | 1994-01-05 | 1995-01-04 | Apparatus and method for acquiring a program from a packetized signal |
EP95907980A Expired - Lifetime EP0738450B1 (en) | 1994-01-05 | 1995-01-04 | Consumer interface for a digital television system |
Country Status (17)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (3) | US5515106A (en) |
EP (5) | EP0738449B1 (en) |
JP (9) | JP3626496B2 (en) |
KR (6) | KR100385032B1 (en) |
CN (5) | CN100353759C (en) |
AU (2) | AU695654B2 (en) |
BR (2) | BR9506447A (en) |
CA (5) | CA2479396C (en) |
DE (3) | DE69512023T2 (en) |
FI (2) | FI114524B (en) |
GB (1) | GB9400101D0 (en) |
IN (1) | IN182236B (en) |
MY (1) | MY111812A (en) |
PL (1) | PL176128B1 (en) |
RU (1) | RU2146855C1 (en) |
SG (3) | SG110002A1 (en) |
WO (2) | WO1995019092A1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (300)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US8352400B2 (en) | 1991-12-23 | 2013-01-08 | Hoffberg Steven M | Adaptive pattern recognition based controller apparatus and method and human-factored interface therefore |
US20020091850A1 (en) | 1992-10-23 | 2002-07-11 | Cybex Corporation | System and method for remote monitoring and operation of personal computers |
US9286294B2 (en) | 1992-12-09 | 2016-03-15 | Comcast Ip Holdings I, Llc | Video and digital multimedia aggregator content suggestion engine |
US7168084B1 (en) | 1992-12-09 | 2007-01-23 | Sedna Patent Services, Llc | Method and apparatus for targeting virtual objects |
CN1071977C (en) | 1993-03-05 | 2001-09-26 | 杰姆斯达发展公司 | Apparatus and method using compressed codes for television program record scheduling |
US5585866A (en) * | 1993-09-09 | 1996-12-17 | Miller; Larry | Electronic television program guide schedule system and method including virtual channels |
GB9400101D0 (en) * | 1994-01-05 | 1994-03-02 | Thomson Consumer Electronics | Consumer interface for a satellite television system |
US8793738B2 (en) * | 1994-05-04 | 2014-07-29 | Starsight Telecast Incorporated | Television system with downloadable features |
US5953046A (en) * | 1994-05-31 | 1999-09-14 | Pocock; Michael H. | Television system with multiple video presentations on a single channel |
US6005561A (en) * | 1994-12-14 | 1999-12-21 | The 3Do Company | Interactive information delivery system |
US6064378A (en) * | 1994-12-23 | 2000-05-16 | Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. | Program guide in a digital video system |
US6976266B1 (en) * | 1994-12-23 | 2005-12-13 | Thomson Licensing S.A. | Apparatus and method for processing a program guide in a digital video system |
KR0164827B1 (en) * | 1995-03-31 | 1999-03-20 | 김광호 | The program guide signal receiver |
US5880768A (en) * | 1995-04-06 | 1999-03-09 | Prevue Networks, Inc. | Interactive program guide systems and processes |
US8539528B2 (en) | 1995-04-17 | 2013-09-17 | Starsight Telecast, Inc. | Multi-source switching in a television system |
US5550576A (en) * | 1995-04-17 | 1996-08-27 | Starsight Telecast Incorporated | Method and apparatus for merging television program schedule information received from multiple television schedule information sources |
US5630119A (en) * | 1995-05-05 | 1997-05-13 | Microsoft Corporation | System and method for displaying program listings in an interactive electronic program guide |
US6215530B1 (en) | 1995-05-22 | 2001-04-10 | Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. | Logical and composite channel mapping in an MPEG network |
US5600378A (en) * | 1995-05-22 | 1997-02-04 | Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. | Logical and composite channel mapping in an MPEG network |
US6769128B1 (en) | 1995-06-07 | 2004-07-27 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Electronic television program guide schedule system and method with data feed access |
US5760821A (en) * | 1995-06-07 | 1998-06-02 | News America Publications, Inc. | Electronic program guide schedule localization system and method |
US5920572A (en) * | 1995-06-30 | 1999-07-06 | Divicom Inc. | Transport stream decoder/demultiplexer for hierarchically organized audio-video streams |
JP3698273B2 (en) * | 1995-07-20 | 2005-09-21 | ソニー株式会社 | Electronic program guide transmission apparatus and method, electronic program guide reception apparatus and method, and electronic program guide transmission / reception system and method |
US5801753A (en) * | 1995-08-11 | 1998-09-01 | General Instrument Corporation Of Delaware | Method and apparatus for providing an interactive guide to events available on an information network |
US5721842A (en) * | 1995-08-25 | 1998-02-24 | Apex Pc Solutions, Inc. | Interconnection system for viewing and controlling remotely connected computers with on-screen video overlay for controlling of the interconnection switch |
US6323911B1 (en) | 1995-10-02 | 2001-11-27 | Starsight Telecast, Inc. | System and method for using television schedule information |
US6732369B1 (en) | 1995-10-02 | 2004-05-04 | Starsight Telecast, Inc. | Systems and methods for contextually linking television program information |
US6388714B1 (en) * | 1995-10-02 | 2002-05-14 | Starsight Telecast Inc | Interactive computer system for providing television schedule information |
US8850477B2 (en) | 1995-10-02 | 2014-09-30 | Starsight Telecast, Inc. | Systems and methods for linking television viewers with advertisers and broadcasters |
KR100195098B1 (en) * | 1995-10-13 | 1999-06-15 | 윤종용 | Reordering method and circuit of variable length decoded data in image compressing and restoring apparatus |
DE19642558B4 (en) * | 1995-10-16 | 2008-11-13 | Lg Electronics Inc. | Device for electronic program guide |
US5899578A (en) * | 1995-12-25 | 1999-05-04 | Sony Corporation | Digital signal processor, processing method, digital signal recording/playback device and digital signal playback method |
US5835493A (en) * | 1996-01-02 | 1998-11-10 | Divicom, Inc. | MPEG transport stream remultiplexer |
JP3387769B2 (en) * | 1996-04-05 | 2003-03-17 | 松下電器産業株式会社 | Video data transmission method, video data transmission device, and video data reproduction device |
US6469753B1 (en) * | 1996-05-03 | 2002-10-22 | Starsight Telecast, Inc. | Information system |
US5886733A (en) * | 1996-05-17 | 1999-03-23 | Sun Microsystems, Inc. | Method and apparatus for successive refinement of broadcasted video frames |
US5844478A (en) * | 1996-05-31 | 1998-12-01 | Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. | Program specific information formation for digital data processing |
US5844595A (en) * | 1996-05-31 | 1998-12-01 | Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. | Decoding of digital data including program specific information |
US5754651A (en) * | 1996-05-31 | 1998-05-19 | Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. | Processing and storage of digital data and program specific information |
US5838873A (en) * | 1996-05-31 | 1998-11-17 | Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. | Packetized data formats for digital data storage media |
CN1179565C (en) * | 1996-05-31 | 2004-12-08 | 松下电器产业株式会社 | Data communication system and data transmitting and receiving equipment |
US5946052A (en) * | 1996-08-01 | 1999-08-31 | Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. | System for acquiring and processing video data and program guides transmitted in different coding formats |
US5946045A (en) * | 1996-08-01 | 1999-08-31 | Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. | System for forming program guides and video data for storage and transmission in different coding formats |
FR2752351B1 (en) * | 1996-08-09 | 2001-09-07 | Thomson Multimedia Sa | METHOD FOR INDEXING DATA IN A DIGITAL TELEVISION TRANSMISSION SYSTEM |
US6049333A (en) * | 1996-09-03 | 2000-04-11 | Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P. | System and method for providing an event database in a telecasting system |
US7292604B2 (en) * | 1996-09-05 | 2007-11-06 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Device and method for efficient delivery of redundant national television signals |
US6728269B1 (en) | 1996-09-05 | 2004-04-27 | Hughes Electronics Corporation | Device and method for efficient delivery of redundant national television signals |
US5886995A (en) * | 1996-09-05 | 1999-03-23 | Hughes Electronics Corporation | Dynamic mapping of broadcast resources |
JPH10126750A (en) * | 1996-10-23 | 1998-05-15 | Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd | Program information broadcast system, broadcast equipment, and reception terminal equipment |
JPH10126752A (en) * | 1996-10-23 | 1998-05-15 | Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd | Broadcast system |
JP3750760B2 (en) | 1996-10-24 | 2006-03-01 | ソニー株式会社 | Repeated use data insertion device and digital broadcast transmission system |
US20030066085A1 (en) | 1996-12-10 | 2003-04-03 | United Video Properties, Inc., A Corporation Of Delaware | Internet television program guide system |
US6453471B1 (en) * | 1996-12-13 | 2002-09-17 | Starsight Telecast, Inc. | Electronic programming guide with movie preview |
US5982411A (en) * | 1996-12-18 | 1999-11-09 | General Instrument Corporation | Navigation among grouped television channels |
US8635649B2 (en) | 1996-12-19 | 2014-01-21 | Gemstar Development Corporation | System and method for modifying advertisement responsive to EPG information |
US6687906B1 (en) | 1996-12-19 | 2004-02-03 | Index Systems, Inc. | EPG with advertising inserts |
JP3783307B2 (en) * | 1996-12-26 | 2006-06-07 | 日本ビクター株式会社 | Electronic program guide display device and display method |
US6208335B1 (en) | 1997-01-13 | 2001-03-27 | Diva Systems Corporation | Method and apparatus for providing a menu structure for an interactive information distribution system |
US6407692B1 (en) * | 1997-01-22 | 2002-06-18 | Broadcom Corporation | Analog to digital converter |
US5850218A (en) * | 1997-02-19 | 1998-12-15 | Time Warner Entertainment Company L.P. | Inter-active program guide with default selection control |
JPH10248051A (en) | 1997-03-05 | 1998-09-14 | Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd | Digital data transmission method, digital data transmitter and digital data receiver |
JP3662384B2 (en) * | 1997-03-09 | 2005-06-22 | 松下電器産業株式会社 | Information providing method and information providing and receiving apparatus used therefor |
US6359580B1 (en) * | 1997-03-18 | 2002-03-19 | Thomson Licensing S.A. | Multiple source keypad channel entry system and method |
US8769598B2 (en) * | 1997-03-24 | 2014-07-01 | Logitech Europe S.A. | Program guide on a remote control |
US6130726A (en) * | 1997-03-24 | 2000-10-10 | Evolve Products, Inc. | Program guide on a remote control display |
US20050097594A1 (en) * | 1997-03-24 | 2005-05-05 | O'donnell Frank | Systems and methods for awarding affinity points based upon remote control usage |
FR2765441B1 (en) * | 1997-06-27 | 2002-12-13 | Sagem | METHOD FOR TRANSMITTING DATA IN PACKETS BETWEEN A DIGITAL TELEVISION TRANSMITTER AND TELEVISION RECEIVERS |
IL125141A0 (en) * | 1998-06-29 | 1999-01-26 | Nds Ltd | Advanced television system |
JP3413065B2 (en) * | 1997-07-03 | 2003-06-03 | 松下電器産業株式会社 | Program information processing device |
IL121230A (en) * | 1997-07-03 | 2004-05-12 | Nds Ltd | Intelligent electronic program guide |
US20030088872A1 (en) * | 1997-07-03 | 2003-05-08 | Nds Limited | Advanced television system |
US6144402A (en) * | 1997-07-08 | 2000-11-07 | Microtune, Inc. | Internet transaction acceleration |
US6031577A (en) * | 1997-07-10 | 2000-02-29 | Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. | System for forming and processing program specific information containing text data for terrestrial, cable or satellite broadcast |
US6111611A (en) * | 1997-07-10 | 2000-08-29 | Thomson Consumer Electronics | System for forming and processing program specific information suitable for terrestrial, cable or satellite broadcast |
US6111612A (en) * | 1997-07-10 | 2000-08-29 | Thomson Consumer Electronics | System for forming and processing text data for use in program specific information for broadcast |
US6115074A (en) * | 1997-07-10 | 2000-09-05 | Ozkan; Mehmet Kemal | System for forming and processing program map information suitable for terrestrial, cable or satellite broadcast |
US6819658B1 (en) * | 1997-07-15 | 2004-11-16 | Comsat Corporation | Method and apparatus for segmentation, reassembly and inverse multiplexing of packets and ATM cells over satellite/wireless networks |
FI104770B (en) * | 1997-07-17 | 2000-03-31 | Domiras Oy | A method and a terminal for providing services in a telecommunications network |
CN1555191A (en) | 1997-07-21 | 2004-12-15 | E�ǵ¹�˾ | Systems and methods for displaying and recording control interfaces |
KR100786025B1 (en) * | 1997-08-21 | 2007-12-17 | 소니 가부시끼 가이샤 | Information transmitting method and television broadcast receiver |
EP1596589B1 (en) * | 1997-08-21 | 2008-10-15 | Sony Corporation | Receiver, program retrieval method, and receiving method |
US6304895B1 (en) | 1997-08-22 | 2001-10-16 | Apex Inc. | Method and system for intelligently controlling a remotely located computer |
EP0899955A3 (en) | 1997-08-27 | 2001-01-31 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | Control information generating apparatus for broadcast system |
US6085235A (en) * | 1997-09-16 | 2000-07-04 | International Business Machines Corporation | System for parsing multimedia data into separate channels by network server in according to type of data and filtering out unwanted packets by client |
CA2302250C (en) | 1997-09-18 | 2008-02-05 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Electronic-mail reminder for an internet television program guide |
US6604240B2 (en) | 1997-10-06 | 2003-08-05 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Interactive television program guide system with operator showcase |
US7150029B1 (en) | 1997-10-14 | 2006-12-12 | Thomson Licensing | System for formatting and processing multimedia program data and program guide information |
CN1531346B (en) * | 1997-10-14 | 2013-04-17 | 汤姆森特许公司 | System for formatting and processing multimedia program data and program guide information |
US20010044843A1 (en) | 1997-10-28 | 2001-11-22 | Philip Bates | Multi-user computer system |
US7117440B2 (en) * | 1997-12-03 | 2006-10-03 | Sedna Patent Services, Llc | Method and apparatus for providing a menu structure for an interactive information distribution system |
JP3447207B2 (en) * | 1997-12-05 | 2003-09-16 | 松下電器産業株式会社 | Program information creation transmission apparatus and method |
JPH11196342A (en) * | 1997-12-26 | 1999-07-21 | Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd | Sender and terminal |
AU2453999A (en) * | 1998-01-08 | 1999-07-26 | Thomson Licensing S.A. | Method and interface for linking terms in an electronic message to program information |
US6195368B1 (en) | 1998-01-14 | 2001-02-27 | Skystream Corporation | Re-timing of video program bearing streams transmitted by an asynchronous communication link |
US6246701B1 (en) | 1998-01-14 | 2001-06-12 | Skystream Corporation | Reference time clock locking in a remultiplexer for video program bearing transport streams |
US6351474B1 (en) * | 1998-01-14 | 2002-02-26 | Skystream Networks Inc. | Network distributed remultiplexer for video program bearing transport streams |
US6351471B1 (en) | 1998-01-14 | 2002-02-26 | Skystream Networks Inc. | Brandwidth optimization of video program bearing transport streams |
US6292490B1 (en) | 1998-01-14 | 2001-09-18 | Skystream Corporation | Receipts and dispatch timing of transport packets in a video program bearing stream remultiplexer |
IL123288A (en) | 1998-02-13 | 2001-05-20 | Nds Ltd | Electronic game guide system |
US7185355B1 (en) | 1998-03-04 | 2007-02-27 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Program guide system with preference profiles |
JPH11252519A (en) | 1998-03-05 | 1999-09-17 | Mitsubishi Electric Corp | Broadcast program transmitting device and its method |
US6564379B1 (en) | 1998-04-30 | 2003-05-13 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Program guide system with flip and browse advertisements |
AU761964B2 (en) * | 1998-05-11 | 2003-06-12 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | Broadcasting transmitter and receiver |
US20020095676A1 (en) | 1998-05-15 | 2002-07-18 | Robert A. Knee | Interactive television program guide system for determining user values for demographic categories |
DE69926689T2 (en) * | 1998-06-18 | 2006-06-08 | Sony Corp. | Apparatus and method for transmitting information, apparatus and method for receiving information, apparatus for providing a computer-readable program and television transmission system |
US9641873B1 (en) * | 1998-06-25 | 2017-05-02 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Method and apparatus for controlling broadcast programming content |
US6763522B1 (en) * | 1998-06-30 | 2004-07-13 | Sony Corporation | System and method for a digital television electronic program guide |
US6442755B1 (en) * | 1998-07-07 | 2002-08-27 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Electronic program guide using markup language |
US8286207B1 (en) * | 1998-07-13 | 2012-10-09 | Thomson Licensing | System for processing programs and system timing information derived from multiple broadcast sources |
CN1867068A (en) | 1998-07-14 | 2006-11-22 | 联合视频制品公司 | Client-server based interactive television program guide system with remote server recording |
AR020608A1 (en) | 1998-07-17 | 2002-05-22 | United Video Properties Inc | A METHOD AND A PROVISION TO SUPPLY A USER REMOTE ACCESS TO AN INTERACTIVE PROGRAMMING GUIDE BY A REMOTE ACCESS LINK |
EP1099346A1 (en) * | 1998-07-23 | 2001-05-16 | Diva Systems Corporation | System for generating, distributing and receiving an interactive user interface |
US7091968B1 (en) * | 1998-07-23 | 2006-08-15 | Sedna Patent Services, Llc | Method and apparatus for encoding a user interface |
US6415437B1 (en) * | 1998-07-23 | 2002-07-02 | Diva Systems Corporation | Method and apparatus for combining video sequences with an interactive program guide |
US6754905B2 (en) | 1998-07-23 | 2004-06-22 | Diva Systems Corporation | Data structure and methods for providing an interactive program guide |
AU5006699A (en) * | 1998-07-23 | 2000-02-14 | Diva Systems Corporation | Interactive user interface |
US9924234B2 (en) | 1998-07-23 | 2018-03-20 | Comcast Ip Holdings I, Llc | Data structure and methods for providing an interactive program |
US6898762B2 (en) | 1998-08-21 | 2005-05-24 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Client-server electronic program guide |
JP4146089B2 (en) | 1998-09-22 | 2008-09-03 | アボセント ハンツヴィル コーポレーション | System for remote access to personal computers |
US6661472B2 (en) * | 1998-09-30 | 2003-12-09 | Sony Corporation | Channel selection in digital television |
US6675385B1 (en) * | 1998-10-21 | 2004-01-06 | Liberate Technologies | HTML electronic program guide for an MPEG digital TV system |
US7412715B2 (en) * | 1998-10-28 | 2008-08-12 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | Method and apparatus for displaying channel information and selecting channel on digital television |
US6360275B1 (en) * | 1998-10-29 | 2002-03-19 | Shanghai Wonders Information Co., Ltd. | System and method for transmitting and receiving data in a network |
US7694319B1 (en) | 1998-11-02 | 2010-04-06 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Interactive program guide with continuous data stream and client-server data supplementation |
US7051360B1 (en) * | 1998-11-30 | 2006-05-23 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Interactive television program guide with selectable languages |
US6865746B1 (en) | 1998-12-03 | 2005-03-08 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Electronic program guide with related-program search feature |
US6317883B2 (en) | 1998-12-11 | 2001-11-13 | Mediaone Group, Inc. | System and method for content-based television program selection |
US6591292B1 (en) * | 1999-01-08 | 2003-07-08 | Thomson Licensing S.A. | Method and interface for incorporating program information into an electronic message |
JP2000224504A (en) * | 1999-01-28 | 2000-08-11 | Internatl Business Mach Corp <Ibm> | Program displaying and selecting device, digital broadcasting receiver and system therefor |
US7904187B2 (en) | 1999-02-01 | 2011-03-08 | Hoffberg Steven M | Internet appliance system and method |
IL128506A (en) | 1999-02-11 | 2009-11-18 | Nds Ltd | Time-dependent authorization |
JP4086403B2 (en) | 1999-02-25 | 2008-05-14 | 松下電器産業株式会社 | Program information collection and distribution system and program information creation device |
DE19908488A1 (en) | 1999-02-26 | 2000-08-31 | Thomson Brandt Gmbh | Method and device for reproducing digital data streams |
US6971119B1 (en) * | 1999-03-29 | 2005-11-29 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Method and apparatus for transmission, receipt, caching and display of one-way broadcast programming and data |
US6904610B1 (en) | 1999-04-15 | 2005-06-07 | Sedna Patent Services, Llc | Server-centric customized interactive program guide in an interactive television environment |
US7992172B1 (en) * | 1999-04-15 | 2011-08-02 | Cox Communications, Inc. | Method and systems for multicast using multiple transport streams |
US7058965B1 (en) * | 1999-04-15 | 2006-06-06 | Sedna Patent Services, Llc | Multiplexing structures for delivery of interactive program guide |
US7096487B1 (en) | 1999-10-27 | 2006-08-22 | Sedna Patent Services, Llc | Apparatus and method for combining realtime and non-realtime encoded content |
US6754271B1 (en) | 1999-04-15 | 2004-06-22 | Diva Systems Corporation | Temporal slice persistence method and apparatus for delivery of interactive program guide |
US6621870B1 (en) | 1999-04-15 | 2003-09-16 | Diva Systems Corporation | Method and apparatus for compressing video sequences |
JP3901393B2 (en) * | 1999-05-19 | 2007-04-04 | ソニー株式会社 | Broadcasting apparatus and method, receiving apparatus and method, and recording medium |
US7310810B1 (en) | 1999-05-19 | 2007-12-18 | Sony Corporation | Broadcasting apparatus and method, receiving apparatus and method, and medium |
US7024676B1 (en) | 1999-05-25 | 2006-04-04 | Thomson Licensing | System for acquiring and processing broadcast programs, program guide and channel identification data |
US6978471B1 (en) | 1999-05-25 | 2005-12-20 | Thomson Licensing S.A. | System for acquiring and processing broadcast programs and program guide data |
GB2350980B (en) * | 1999-06-08 | 2003-08-27 | Sgs Thomson Microelectronics | Device and method for processing a stream of data |
US6721954B1 (en) | 1999-06-23 | 2004-04-13 | Gateway, Inc. | Personal preferred viewing using electronic program guide |
KR20020031109A (en) | 1999-06-28 | 2002-04-26 | 추후제출 | System and method for utilizing epg database for modifying advertisements |
US7607152B1 (en) * | 2000-01-26 | 2009-10-20 | Cox Communications, Inc. | Demand-cast system and bandwidth management for delivery of interactive programming |
WO2001001689A1 (en) | 1999-06-29 | 2001-01-04 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Method and system for a video-on-demand-related interactive display within an interactive television application |
KR100322609B1 (en) * | 1999-07-19 | 2002-03-18 | 구자홍 | Digital Authoring System and Server System and Digital Authoring Method Using the same |
GB2352595B (en) * | 1999-07-27 | 2003-10-01 | Sgs Thomson Microelectronics | Data processing device |
JP4250817B2 (en) * | 1999-08-04 | 2009-04-08 | 三菱電機株式会社 | Program guide providing device |
US6378014B1 (en) | 1999-08-25 | 2002-04-23 | Apex Inc. | Terminal emulator for interfacing between a communications port and a KVM switch |
US7110714B1 (en) * | 1999-08-27 | 2006-09-19 | Kay Matthew W | Television commerce system with program identifiers |
US7269728B1 (en) * | 1999-09-21 | 2007-09-11 | Nortel Networks Limited | Apparatus and method for distributing management keys in a multicast domain |
DE60034364D1 (en) | 1999-10-27 | 2007-05-24 | Sedna Patent Services Llc | MULTIPLE VIDEO DRIVES USING SLICE BASED CODING |
US6961430B1 (en) | 1999-11-10 | 2005-11-01 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Method and apparatus for background caching of encrypted programming data for later playback |
US20020124255A1 (en) | 1999-12-10 | 2002-09-05 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Systems and methods for coordinating interactive and passive advertisement and merchandising opportunities |
KR100379419B1 (en) * | 2000-01-17 | 2003-04-10 | 엘지전자 주식회사 | apparatus for processing data of program guide |
FR2803965B1 (en) * | 2000-01-19 | 2003-07-04 | Sagem | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DISTRIBUTING TO A TELEVISION DECODER SIGNALS OF ADJUSTMENT PARAMETERS |
US6681397B1 (en) * | 2000-01-21 | 2004-01-20 | Diva Systems Corp. | Visual improvement of video stream transitions |
US6701528B1 (en) * | 2000-01-26 | 2004-03-02 | Hughes Electronics Corporation | Virtual video on demand using multiple encrypted video segments |
AU2001234559A1 (en) * | 2000-01-26 | 2001-08-07 | Diva Systems Corporation | Messaging protocol for demand-cast system and bandwidth management |
US8531276B2 (en) | 2000-03-15 | 2013-09-10 | Logitech Europe S.A. | State-based remote control system |
US20010033243A1 (en) | 2000-03-15 | 2001-10-25 | Harris Glen Mclean | Online remote control configuration system |
SE0000987L (en) * | 2000-03-22 | 2001-09-23 | Nokia Corp | Communication methods, networks and terminal utilization the aforementioned ways |
WO2001072044A1 (en) * | 2000-03-23 | 2001-09-27 | Thomson Licensing S.A. | A system and a process for reconstructing programs from an input transport stream and a corresponding digital receiver |
AR027760A1 (en) | 2000-03-31 | 2003-04-09 | United Video Properties Inc | PROVISION AND METHOD FOR ADVERTISING NOTICE LINKED WITH METADATA |
US8082572B1 (en) | 2000-06-08 | 2011-12-20 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Method and apparatus for transmitting, receiving, and utilizing audio/visual signals and other information |
WO2001097526A1 (en) * | 2000-06-12 | 2001-12-20 | General Instrument Corporation | Apparatus and method for resolution of conflicts in protocol data of multiple data streams |
JP4543513B2 (en) * | 2000-07-17 | 2010-09-15 | ソニー株式会社 | Bidirectional communication system, display device, base device, and bidirectional communication method |
US7457414B1 (en) | 2000-07-21 | 2008-11-25 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Super encrypted storage and retrieval of media programs with smartcard generated keys |
US8140859B1 (en) | 2000-07-21 | 2012-03-20 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Secure storage and replay of media programs using a hard-paired receiver and storage device |
US7203311B1 (en) * | 2000-07-21 | 2007-04-10 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Super encrypted storage and retrieval of media programs in a hard-paired receiver and storage device |
US7203314B1 (en) | 2000-07-21 | 2007-04-10 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Super encrypted storage and retrieval of media programs with modified conditional access functionality |
JP4501243B2 (en) * | 2000-07-24 | 2010-07-14 | ソニー株式会社 | Television receiver and program execution method |
US6795639B1 (en) | 2000-09-19 | 2004-09-21 | Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. | Follow up correction to EPG for recording systems to reset requests for recording |
US7036137B1 (en) | 2000-10-02 | 2006-04-25 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Method and apparatus for providing unified program guide information to a media subscriber |
US7191461B1 (en) * | 2000-10-02 | 2007-03-13 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Method and apparatus for adapting program guides to meet subscriber criteria |
US6922844B1 (en) * | 2000-10-02 | 2005-07-26 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Method and apparatus for distinguishing program guides according to originating network |
US7661119B1 (en) * | 2000-10-02 | 2010-02-09 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Method and apparatus for providing non-resident program guide information to a media subscriber |
CN100579203C (en) | 2000-10-11 | 2010-01-06 | 联合视频制品公司 | Storage system and method on the server in the on-demand media transmission system is provided |
US7180917B1 (en) | 2000-10-25 | 2007-02-20 | Xm Satellite Radio Inc. | Method and apparatus for employing stored content at receivers to improve efficiency of broadcast system bandwidth use |
US20020066101A1 (en) * | 2000-11-27 | 2002-05-30 | Gordon Donald F. | Method and apparatus for delivering and displaying information for a multi-layer user interface |
US20020066102A1 (en) * | 2000-11-29 | 2002-05-30 | Chapman Lawrence N. | Backwards compatible real-time program guide capacity increase |
US7810119B2 (en) * | 2001-02-28 | 2010-10-05 | Thomson Licensing | Method for searching of an electronic program guide |
US7534401B2 (en) * | 2001-03-16 | 2009-05-19 | Global Environmental Concepts, Llc | Arcing electron stream apparatus and method |
WO2002087253A2 (en) * | 2001-04-23 | 2002-10-31 | Iblast, Inc. | Method and apparatus for opportunistically broadcasting rich media digital content |
JP2002325068A (en) * | 2001-04-25 | 2002-11-08 | Nec Microsystems Ltd | Multiplexed digital broadcasting system and method therefor |
JP3632205B2 (en) * | 2001-05-15 | 2005-03-23 | 船井電機株式会社 | Receiver |
US20020188956A1 (en) * | 2001-06-07 | 2002-12-12 | Michael Ficco | Method and system for electronic program guide temporal content organization |
JP2004536524A (en) * | 2001-07-19 | 2004-12-02 | トムソン ライセンシング ソシエテ アノニム | Robust reception of digital broadcast transmission |
US7908628B2 (en) | 2001-08-03 | 2011-03-15 | Comcast Ip Holdings I, Llc | Video and digital multimedia aggregator content coding and formatting |
US7793326B2 (en) | 2001-08-03 | 2010-09-07 | Comcast Ip Holdings I, Llc | Video and digital multimedia aggregator |
DE10138486C1 (en) * | 2001-08-04 | 2003-02-20 | Loewe Opta Gmbh | Transmission program data collection method for electronic entertainment device automatically selects and stores data relating to normal times of use |
US7231655B2 (en) * | 2001-08-06 | 2007-06-12 | Time Warner Cable | Technique for reverse transport of data in a hybrid fiber coax cable system |
US8880709B2 (en) * | 2001-09-12 | 2014-11-04 | Ericsson Television Inc. | Method and system for scheduled streaming of best effort data |
US7039955B2 (en) | 2001-09-14 | 2006-05-02 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Embedded blacklisting for digital broadcast system security |
US7797552B2 (en) * | 2001-09-21 | 2010-09-14 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Method and apparatus for controlling paired operation of a conditional access module and an integrated receiver and decoder |
US7409562B2 (en) | 2001-09-21 | 2008-08-05 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Method and apparatus for encrypting media programs for later purchase and viewing |
FR2830158B1 (en) * | 2001-09-24 | 2004-09-10 | Telediffusion De France Tdf | DEVICE FOR TRANSMITTING MULTIPLE DIGITAL SIGNALS ON A SINGLE TRANSMISSION MEDIUM |
US20030093815A1 (en) * | 2001-11-10 | 2003-05-15 | Morrison Hugh Boyd | System and method of assigning a home channel |
GB0127234D0 (en) | 2001-11-13 | 2002-01-02 | British Sky Broadcasting Ltd | Improvements in receivers for television signals |
US7177608B2 (en) * | 2002-03-11 | 2007-02-13 | Catch A Wave Technologies | Personal spectrum recorder |
JP4000454B2 (en) * | 2002-05-13 | 2007-10-31 | ソニー株式会社 | Receiving apparatus and receiving method |
US20040078810A1 (en) * | 2002-06-07 | 2004-04-22 | Monica Marics | Method and system for performing actions related to programming in an electronic program guide |
FR2844600A1 (en) * | 2002-09-13 | 2004-03-19 | Thomson Licensing Sa | Second subscription domestic e.g. television, apparatus checking relative position domestic network method having alternating electrical periods measured first/second apparatus and offset comparison verified/not verified |
US20040083485A1 (en) * | 2002-10-25 | 2004-04-29 | Russ David P. | Viewer data collection system and method for use in a direct broadcast satellite television network |
JP2006506874A (en) * | 2002-11-18 | 2006-02-23 | コーニンクレッカ フィリップス エレクトロニクス エヌ ヴィ | Content selection method and apparatus |
US7225458B2 (en) * | 2002-11-21 | 2007-05-29 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Method and apparatus for ensuring reception of conditional access information in multi-tuner receivers |
US7000241B2 (en) * | 2002-11-21 | 2006-02-14 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Method and apparatus for minimizing conditional access information overhead while ensuring conditional access information reception in multi-tuner receivers |
US7493646B2 (en) | 2003-01-30 | 2009-02-17 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Interactive television systems with digital video recording and adjustable reminders |
WO2004071084A1 (en) * | 2003-02-05 | 2004-08-19 | Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. | Method of coding and transmitting epg data, coder and receiver |
US7693222B2 (en) * | 2003-08-13 | 2010-04-06 | Ericsson Television Inc. | Method and system for re-multiplexing of content-modified MPEG-2 transport streams using PCR interpolation |
US7259482B2 (en) * | 2003-09-24 | 2007-08-21 | Belkin International, Inc. | Distance extender and method making use of same |
US7984468B2 (en) | 2003-11-06 | 2011-07-19 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Systems and methods for providing program suggestions in an interactive television program guide |
US7460583B2 (en) * | 2003-12-15 | 2008-12-02 | Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ) | Method for path searching and verification |
US7548624B2 (en) * | 2004-01-16 | 2009-06-16 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Distribution of broadcast content for remote decryption and viewing |
US7580523B2 (en) * | 2004-01-16 | 2009-08-25 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Distribution of video content using client to host pairing of integrated receivers/decoders |
US7599494B2 (en) * | 2004-01-16 | 2009-10-06 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Distribution of video content using a trusted network key for sharing content |
CN1914595A (en) * | 2004-02-02 | 2007-02-14 | 皇家飞利浦电子股份有限公司 | Delegating skinning service for CE apparatus GUI to the internet |
US7801303B2 (en) | 2004-03-01 | 2010-09-21 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Video on demand in a broadcast network |
US7590059B2 (en) * | 2004-05-21 | 2009-09-15 | Broadcom Corp. | Multistandard video decoder |
US7634792B2 (en) * | 2004-09-20 | 2009-12-15 | Comcast Cable Holdings, Llc | Method and system for acquiring and converting electronic programming guide signals from multiple vendors |
US8806533B1 (en) | 2004-10-08 | 2014-08-12 | United Video Properties, Inc. | System and method for using television information codes |
JP2006211424A (en) * | 2005-01-28 | 2006-08-10 | Orion Denki Kk | Broadcasting receiver having automatic preset function |
KR20070121702A (en) | 2005-04-12 | 2007-12-27 | 마츠시타 덴끼 산교 가부시키가이샤 | Broadcasting device and receiver |
DE102006018238A1 (en) | 2005-04-20 | 2007-03-29 | Logitech Europe S.A. | Remote control system for home theater system, analyzes log of events stored by remote controller to identify patterns of interest in logged use of remote controller |
GB0511774D0 (en) * | 2005-06-09 | 2005-07-20 | Nds Ltd | Extended service information 2 (XSI-2) |
KR100766496B1 (en) | 2005-07-08 | 2007-10-15 | 삼성전자주식회사 | Hdmi transmission system |
US9325944B2 (en) * | 2005-08-11 | 2016-04-26 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Secure delivery of program content via a removable storage medium |
US7788266B2 (en) | 2005-08-26 | 2010-08-31 | Veveo, Inc. | Method and system for processing ambiguous, multi-term search queries |
US8139642B2 (en) | 2005-08-29 | 2012-03-20 | Stmicroelectronics S.R.L. | Method for encoding signals, related systems and program product therefor |
US9113107B2 (en) | 2005-11-08 | 2015-08-18 | Rovi Guides, Inc. | Interactive advertising and program promotion in an interactive television system |
WO2007063468A1 (en) | 2005-11-30 | 2007-06-07 | Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. | Method and system for generating a recommendation for at least one further content item |
US7950042B2 (en) * | 2005-12-16 | 2011-05-24 | Newport Media, Inc. | Fast switching between time division multiplexed (TDM) channels |
US20070156521A1 (en) | 2005-12-29 | 2007-07-05 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Systems and methods for commerce in media program related merchandise |
US7835998B2 (en) | 2006-03-06 | 2010-11-16 | Veveo, Inc. | Methods and systems for selecting and presenting content on a first system based on user preferences learned on a second system |
US20070223870A1 (en) * | 2006-03-23 | 2007-09-27 | Seagate Technology Llc | Single board digital video system |
US8316394B2 (en) | 2006-03-24 | 2012-11-20 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Interactive media guidance application with intelligent navigation and display features |
US8001565B2 (en) * | 2006-05-15 | 2011-08-16 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Methods and apparatus to conditionally authorize content delivery at receivers in pay delivery systems |
US8996421B2 (en) * | 2006-05-15 | 2015-03-31 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Methods and apparatus to conditionally authorize content delivery at broadcast headends in pay delivery systems |
US7992175B2 (en) | 2006-05-15 | 2011-08-02 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Methods and apparatus to provide content on demand in content broadcast systems |
US20070265973A1 (en) * | 2006-05-15 | 2007-11-15 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Methods and apparatus to protect content in home networks |
US20070265966A1 (en) * | 2006-05-15 | 2007-11-15 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Content delivery systems and methods to operate the same |
US8095466B2 (en) * | 2006-05-15 | 2012-01-10 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Methods and apparatus to conditionally authorize content delivery at content servers in pay delivery systems |
US8775319B2 (en) | 2006-05-15 | 2014-07-08 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Secure content transfer systems and methods to operate the same |
US9679602B2 (en) | 2006-06-14 | 2017-06-13 | Seagate Technology Llc | Disc drive circuitry swap |
US9178693B2 (en) | 2006-08-04 | 2015-11-03 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Distributed media-protection systems and methods to operate the same |
US9225761B2 (en) | 2006-08-04 | 2015-12-29 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Distributed media-aggregation systems and methods to operate the same |
US8427489B2 (en) | 2006-08-10 | 2013-04-23 | Avocent Huntsville Corporation | Rack interface pod with intelligent platform control |
US8009173B2 (en) | 2006-08-10 | 2011-08-30 | Avocent Huntsville Corporation | Rack interface pod with intelligent platform control |
TWI337829B (en) * | 2006-09-01 | 2011-02-21 | Realtek Semiconductor Corp | Channel selection device and channel selection method |
US8832742B2 (en) | 2006-10-06 | 2014-09-09 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Systems and methods for acquiring, categorizing and delivering media in interactive media guidance applications |
US9015772B2 (en) * | 2006-12-12 | 2015-04-21 | The Directv Group, Inc. | Interactive gaming channel video stream with nested features |
US8321449B2 (en) * | 2007-01-22 | 2012-11-27 | Jook Inc. | Media rating |
US8490138B2 (en) * | 2007-02-23 | 2013-07-16 | Rovi Guides, Inc. | Channel searching by content type |
US7801888B2 (en) | 2007-03-09 | 2010-09-21 | Microsoft Corporation | Media content search results ranked by popularity |
BRPI0815735A2 (en) * | 2007-08-28 | 2019-09-24 | Thomson Licensing | alternating broadcast without delay during switching between channels. |
US9305590B2 (en) | 2007-10-16 | 2016-04-05 | Seagate Technology Llc | Prevent data storage device circuitry swap |
US20090133078A1 (en) | 2007-11-16 | 2009-05-21 | United Video Properties, Inc | Systems and methods for automatically purchasing and recording popular pay programs in an interactive media delivery system |
EP2073491A1 (en) * | 2007-12-21 | 2009-06-24 | Thomson Licensing | Method of management of metadata size of a service guide |
US20090172544A1 (en) * | 2007-12-31 | 2009-07-02 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Interactive media guidance application with access to multiple data sets |
US20090265739A1 (en) * | 2008-04-18 | 2009-10-22 | Stmicroelectronics Pvt. Ltd. | Method and system for channel selection in a digital broadcast reception terminal |
US10063934B2 (en) | 2008-11-25 | 2018-08-28 | Rovi Technologies Corporation | Reducing unicast session duration with restart TV |
US9166714B2 (en) | 2009-09-11 | 2015-10-20 | Veveo, Inc. | Method of and system for presenting enriched video viewing analytics |
US8359616B2 (en) | 2009-09-30 | 2013-01-22 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Systems and methods for automatically generating advertisements using a media guidance application |
TW201130304A (en) * | 2010-02-24 | 2011-09-01 | Hon Hai Prec Ind Co Ltd | System and method for remotely switching TV channels |
US8508401B1 (en) | 2010-08-31 | 2013-08-13 | Logitech Europe S.A. | Delay fixing for command codes in a remote control system |
US9736524B2 (en) | 2011-01-06 | 2017-08-15 | Veveo, Inc. | Methods of and systems for content search based on environment sampling |
US8584167B2 (en) | 2011-05-31 | 2013-11-12 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Electronic programming guides combining stored content information and content provider schedule information |
US9154813B2 (en) | 2011-06-09 | 2015-10-06 | Comcast Cable Communications, Llc | Multiple video content in a composite video stream |
JP2014525700A (en) * | 2011-08-10 | 2014-09-29 | トムソン ライセンシング | System and method for caching an electronic program guide |
US8437622B2 (en) | 2011-08-23 | 2013-05-07 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Altering presentation of received content based on use of closed captioning elements as reference locations |
US8763027B2 (en) | 2011-08-23 | 2014-06-24 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Recording additional channels of a shared multi-channel transmitter |
US9621946B2 (en) | 2011-08-23 | 2017-04-11 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Frequency content sort |
US9185331B2 (en) | 2011-08-23 | 2015-11-10 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Storing multiple instances of content |
US8627349B2 (en) * | 2011-08-23 | 2014-01-07 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | User interface |
US8850476B2 (en) | 2011-08-23 | 2014-09-30 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Backwards guide |
US9357159B2 (en) | 2011-08-23 | 2016-05-31 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Grouping and presenting content |
US8660412B2 (en) | 2011-08-23 | 2014-02-25 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | System and method for dynamically adjusting recording parameters |
US8447170B2 (en) | 2011-08-23 | 2013-05-21 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Automatically recording supplemental content |
US8959566B2 (en) | 2011-08-23 | 2015-02-17 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Storing and reading multiplexed content |
US9003442B2 (en) * | 2011-12-13 | 2015-04-07 | Verizon Patent And Licensing Inc. | Shared local government channel |
US8805418B2 (en) | 2011-12-23 | 2014-08-12 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Methods and systems for performing actions based on location-based rules |
US9071799B2 (en) * | 2012-02-17 | 2015-06-30 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Channel tuning redirect |
US8819722B2 (en) | 2012-03-15 | 2014-08-26 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Smartcard encryption cycling |
US9489981B2 (en) | 2012-03-15 | 2016-11-08 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Successive initialization of television channel recording |
US8959544B2 (en) | 2012-03-15 | 2015-02-17 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Descrambling of multiple television channels |
US8989562B2 (en) | 2012-03-15 | 2015-03-24 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Facilitating concurrent recording of multiple television channels |
US8793724B2 (en) | 2012-11-08 | 2014-07-29 | Eldon Technology Limited | Image domain compliance |
US20140195334A1 (en) | 2013-01-10 | 2014-07-10 | United Video Properties, Inc. | Systems and methods for optimizing data driven media placement |
US9848276B2 (en) | 2013-03-11 | 2017-12-19 | Rovi Guides, Inc. | Systems and methods for auto-configuring a user equipment device with content consumption material |
US9628838B2 (en) | 2013-10-01 | 2017-04-18 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Satellite-based content targeting |
US9288521B2 (en) | 2014-05-28 | 2016-03-15 | Rovi Guides, Inc. | Systems and methods for updating media asset data based on pause point in the media asset |
WO2015183647A1 (en) | 2014-05-29 | 2015-12-03 | Thomson Licensing | Method and apparatus for processing media assets |
US9948962B2 (en) | 2014-11-13 | 2018-04-17 | Time Warner Cable Enterprises Llc | Apparatus and methods for efficient delivery of electronic program guide data |
US9756378B2 (en) | 2015-01-07 | 2017-09-05 | Echostar Technologies L.L.C. | Single file PVR per service ID |
KR102423610B1 (en) | 2015-02-27 | 2022-07-22 | 소니그룹주식회사 | Transmitting device, sending method, receiving device and receiving method |
CN104735519A (en) * | 2015-03-16 | 2015-06-24 | 冠捷显示科技(厦门)有限公司 | System and method for sharing TV programs remotely through remote transmission tool |
Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4903126A (en) * | 1989-02-10 | 1990-02-20 | Kassatly Salim A | Method and apparatus for tv broadcasting |
US4908859A (en) * | 1986-09-19 | 1990-03-13 | M/A-Com Government Systems, Inc. | Receiver access interface to service components in television channel |
EP0503070A1 (en) * | 1990-08-10 | 1992-09-16 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | Transmission system and receiver |
WO1994021085A1 (en) * | 1993-03-08 | 1994-09-15 | Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. | Apparatus providing dynamic virtual service selection in a multi-service communications system |
Family Cites Families (21)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4264925A (en) * | 1979-08-13 | 1981-04-28 | Michael J. Freeman | Interactive cable television system |
US4709418A (en) * | 1983-09-14 | 1987-11-24 | British Telecommunications Public Limited Company | Wideband cable network |
US4691351A (en) * | 1984-11-29 | 1987-09-01 | Sony Corporation | Television signal receiving apparatus |
JPH0624341B2 (en) * | 1986-12-18 | 1994-03-30 | 三菱電機株式会社 | Multimedia data transmission system |
JPH04505688A (en) * | 1989-03-09 | 1992-10-01 | ヴィユーファクツ,インコーポレーテッド | Systems and devices for data transmission and related methods |
ES2104609T3 (en) * | 1989-08-23 | 1997-10-16 | Delta Beta Pty Ltd | PROGRAM TRANSMISSION OPTIMIZATION. |
US5115309A (en) * | 1990-09-10 | 1992-05-19 | At&T Bell Laboratories | Method and apparatus for dynamic channel bandwidth allocation among multiple parallel video coders |
US5168356A (en) * | 1991-02-27 | 1992-12-01 | General Electric Company | Apparatus for segmenting encoded video signal for transmission |
US5200823A (en) * | 1991-03-29 | 1993-04-06 | Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. | Virtual channels for a multiplexed analog component (mac) television system |
US5231494A (en) * | 1991-10-08 | 1993-07-27 | General Instrument Corporation | Selection of compressed television signals from single channel allocation based on viewer characteristics |
US5446490A (en) * | 1992-10-23 | 1995-08-29 | At&T Corp. | Interactive television with tailored programming |
US5418782A (en) * | 1992-10-30 | 1995-05-23 | Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. | Methods and apparatus for providing virtual service selection in a multi-service communications system |
US5486864A (en) * | 1993-05-13 | 1996-01-23 | Rca Thomson Licensing Corporation | Differential time code method and apparatus as for a compressed video signal |
US5446450A (en) * | 1993-11-04 | 1995-08-29 | Sony Electronics Inc. | Genus tower light controller |
GB9400101D0 (en) * | 1994-01-05 | 1994-03-02 | Thomson Consumer Electronics | Consumer interface for a satellite television system |
US5548532A (en) * | 1994-04-28 | 1996-08-20 | Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. | Apparatus and method for formulating an interactive TV signal |
US5563648A (en) * | 1994-04-28 | 1996-10-08 | Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. | Method for controlling execution of an audio video interactive program |
KR0137701B1 (en) * | 1994-12-13 | 1998-05-15 | 양승택 | Pes packetizing apparatus of mpeg-2 system |
US5596373A (en) * | 1995-01-04 | 1997-01-21 | Sony Corporation | Method and apparatus for providing program oriented information in a multiple station broadcast system |
US5652749A (en) * | 1995-02-03 | 1997-07-29 | International Business Machines Corporation | Apparatus and method for segmentation and time synchronization of the transmission of a multiple program multimedia data stream |
RU2116700C1 (en) * | 1997-08-06 | 1998-07-27 | Научно-производственный кооператив "СИГМА" при Томской государственной академии систем управления и радиоэлектроники | Device for communication |
-
1994
- 1994-01-05 GB GB9400101A patent/GB9400101D0/en active Pending
- 1994-05-26 US US08/249,915 patent/US5515106A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1994-12-20 IN IN1059CA1994 patent/IN182236B/en unknown
- 1994-12-23 US US08/363,235 patent/US5642153A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
1995
- 1995-01-04 DE DE69512023T patent/DE69512023T2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1995-01-04 SG SG200207093A patent/SG110002A1/en unknown
- 1995-01-04 JP JP51855595A patent/JP3626496B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1995-01-04 PL PL95315288A patent/PL176128B1/en unknown
- 1995-01-04 WO PCT/US1995/000109 patent/WO1995019092A1/en active IP Right Grant
- 1995-01-04 CA CA002479396A patent/CA2479396C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1995-01-04 KR KR1019960703624A patent/KR100385032B1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1995-01-04 MY MYPI95000006A patent/MY111812A/en unknown
- 1995-01-04 EP EP95906748A patent/EP0738449B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1995-01-04 JP JP51859095A patent/JP3626497B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1995-01-04 DE DE69508553T patent/DE69508553T2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1995-01-04 KR KR1019960703623A patent/KR100336251B1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1995-01-04 CN CNB011088966A patent/CN100353759C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1995-01-04 EP EP98200055A patent/EP0838958B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1995-01-04 KR KR10-2000-7000047A patent/KR100385035B1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1995-01-04 DE DE69527443T patent/DE69527443T2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1995-01-04 AU AU15217/95A patent/AU695654B2/en not_active Ceased
- 1995-01-04 RU RU96116144A patent/RU2146855C1/en active
- 1995-01-04 CA CA002479395A patent/CA2479395C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1995-01-04 AU AU15981/95A patent/AU680340B2/en not_active Expired
- 1995-01-04 EP EP01201067A patent/EP1146744A3/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1995-01-04 CA CA002180112A patent/CA2180112C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1995-01-04 KR KR10-2000-7000046A patent/KR100385034B1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1995-01-04 CN CNA011088958A patent/CN1522064A/en active Pending
- 1995-01-04 BR BR9506447A patent/BR9506447A/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1995-01-04 CN CN981036910A patent/CN1204911B/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1995-01-04 WO PCT/US1995/000050 patent/WO1995019091A1/en active IP Right Grant
- 1995-01-04 SG SG9602056A patent/SG92589A1/en unknown
- 1995-01-04 CN CN95191757A patent/CN1088963C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1995-01-04 CA CA002479398A patent/CA2479398C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1995-01-04 CN CN95191759A patent/CN1075319C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1995-01-04 SG SG1996002537A patent/SG66236A1/en unknown
- 1995-01-04 BR BR9506446A patent/BR9506446A/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1995-01-04 EP EP95907980A patent/EP0738450B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1995-01-04 EP EP20010201068 patent/EP1126719A3/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1995-01-04 KR KR10-2000-7000048A patent/KR100385033B1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1995-01-04 CA CA002180111A patent/CA2180111C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1995-01-05 KR KR1019950000066A patent/KR100336722B1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
-
1996
- 1996-07-04 FI FI962756A patent/FI114524B/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1996-07-04 FI FI962757A patent/FI114888B/en not_active IP Right Cessation
-
1997
- 1997-02-25 US US08/806,574 patent/US5867207A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
2001
- 2001-12-27 JP JP2001397042A patent/JP3650065B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 2001-12-27 JP JP2001396989A patent/JP3881236B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 2001-12-27 JP JP2001397022A patent/JP3650064B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
2005
- 2005-03-07 JP JP2005062135A patent/JP3962064B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
2006
- 2006-10-06 JP JP2006274543A patent/JP4518412B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
2010
- 2010-04-13 JP JP2010092389A patent/JP2010193505A/en active Pending
-
2013
- 2013-06-19 JP JP2013128109A patent/JP5541823B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
Patent Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4908859A (en) * | 1986-09-19 | 1990-03-13 | M/A-Com Government Systems, Inc. | Receiver access interface to service components in television channel |
US4903126A (en) * | 1989-02-10 | 1990-02-20 | Kassatly Salim A | Method and apparatus for tv broadcasting |
EP0503070A1 (en) * | 1990-08-10 | 1992-09-16 | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | Transmission system and receiver |
WO1994021085A1 (en) * | 1993-03-08 | 1994-09-15 | Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. | Apparatus providing dynamic virtual service selection in a multi-service communications system |
Non-Patent Citations (2)
Title |
---|
BOYER R: "DIGITAL BROACAST SATELLITE SYSTEM" PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION SYMPOSIUM AND TECHNICAL EXHIBITION. MONTREUX, JUNE 10 - 15, 1993. CABLE TV SESSIONS, GENEVE, CCITT, CH, vol. SYMP. 18, 11 June 1993 (1993-06-11), pages 458-462, XP000379372 * |
COX J ET AL: "EXTENDED SERVICES IN A DIGITAL COMPRESSION SYSTEM" PROCEEDINGS FROM ELEVEN TECHNICAL SESSIONS OF THE ANNUAL CONVENTION AND EXPOSITION OF THE NATIONAL CABLE TELEVISION ASSOCIATION. SAN FRANCISCO, JUNE 6 - 9, 1993, PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL CONVENTION AND EXPOSITION, WASHINGTON, NCTA, US, vol. CONVENTION 42, 6 June 1993 (1993-06-06), pages 185-191, XP000410499 * |
Also Published As
Similar Documents
Publication | Publication Date | Title |
---|---|---|
CA2479395C (en) | Consumer interface for a digital television system | |
US7299485B2 (en) | Apparatus and method for processing a program guide in a digital video system | |
US6064378A (en) | Program guide in a digital video system | |
US5841433A (en) | Digital television system channel guide having a limited lifetime | |
MXPA96002661A (en) | Consumer interface for a digi detelevision system | |
MXPA96002660A (en) | A guide to channels of a digital television system that has a lifetime |
Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
PUAI | Public reference made under article 153(3) epc to a published international application that has entered the european phase |
Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009012 |
|
AC | Divisional application: reference to earlier application |
Ref document number: 838958 Country of ref document: EP Ref document number: 738450 Country of ref document: EP |
|
AK | Designated contracting states |
Kind code of ref document: A2 Designated state(s): DE GB IT |
|
PUAL | Search report despatched |
Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009013 |
|
AK | Designated contracting states |
Kind code of ref document: A3 Designated state(s): DE GB IT |
|
AKX | Designation fees paid |
Free format text: DE GB IT |
|
17P | Request for examination filed |
Effective date: 20020502 |
|
17Q | First examination report despatched |
Effective date: 20070312 |
|
APBK | Appeal reference recorded |
Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: EPIDOSNREFNE |
|
APBN | Date of receipt of notice of appeal recorded |
Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: EPIDOSNNOA2E |
|
APBR | Date of receipt of statement of grounds of appeal recorded |
Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: EPIDOSNNOA3E |
|
APAF | Appeal reference modified |
Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: EPIDOSCREFNE |
|
APBT | Appeal procedure closed |
Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: EPIDOSNNOA9E |
|
GRAP | Despatch of communication of intention to grant a patent |
Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: EPIDOSNIGR1 |
|
RIC1 | Information provided on ipc code assigned before grant |
Ipc: H04N 7/24 20110101AFI20150324BHEP Ipc: H04N 5/00 20110101ALN20150324BHEP Ipc: H04N 21/00 20110101ALN20150324BHEP |
|
INTG | Intention to grant announced |
Effective date: 20150422 |
|
STAA | Information on the status of an ep patent application or granted ep patent |
Free format text: STATUS: THE APPLICATION IS DEEMED TO BE WITHDRAWN |
|
18D | Application deemed to be withdrawn |
Effective date: 20150903 |